Ed Parish Sanders, a New Testament scholar, was for many years the Arts and Sciences Professor of Religion at Duke University and Professor of Religious Studies at McMaster University. His research has been extremely influential in the study of the world of Late Second Temple Judaism and in the understanding of Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus within that world. His work has also provided important new insights into the origins of both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism that has many implications for the relationships between Jews and Christians today and their own self-understandings.

E.P. Sanders received his Th.D. from Union Theological Seminary in New York and from there went on to author, co-author, or edit 13 books and numerous articles. In 1977, he published a book that revolutionized Pauline studies by situating the Apostle to the Gentiles within a more accurate description of the beliefs and practices of Late Second Temple Judaism. Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion rapidly became a classic work, which launched what has become known as the "New Perspective" on Paul.

His other influential works include: Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People (1983), Jewish Law from Jesus to the Mishnah (1990), Judaism: Practice and Belief (1992), The Historical Figure of Jesus (1993), and most recently, Paul: The Apostle's Life, Letters, and Thought (2016).