Dr. Vilson Scholz is a visiting professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis from São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil.
Scholz earned a Bachelor in Theology from Seminario Concordia and Universidade Luterana do Brasil (ULBRA) (1978, 2016). He earned a Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.) and a Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (1981, 1993), which included his thesis titled, “The Ministry of Jesus Christ as the Fulfillment of the Servant Prophecies of Isaiah,” advised by Erich H. Kiehl, and his dissertation titled, “Reading 2 Corinthians 3:4–18 – An Exercise in Exegesis,” advised by Dr. James W. Voelz.
Before his current term as visiting professor at Concordia Seminary, which began in fall 2022, Scholz served as a translation consultant for United Bible Societies (2000–20), a professor of biblical theology at Seminario Concordia (1985–2021) and ULBRA (Lutheran University of Brazil) (1994–2020), and was a visiting professor of exegetical theology at Concordia Seminary (1996–99).
His writings include: “The Newer Greek Text of the New Testament (NA28 and UBS5) and Its Implications for Translation,” in The Bible Translator, Vol. 72, Issue 3 (2021); Novo Testamento Interlinear Grego-Portugues (Greek-Portuguese Interlinear New Testament), Second edition (2019); Principios de Interpretaçao Biblica (Principles of Biblical Interpretation), Second edition (2018); 40 anos de Biblia na Linguagem de Hoje (40 Years of the New Testament in Today’s Portuguese) (2013); and Dicionario Grego-Portugues do Novo Testamento Grego (A Short Greek-Portuguese Lexicon of New Testament Greek) (2009).
In addition, Scholz has contributed to several projects, including revising a major portion (six out of eight documents) of the Portuguese translation of the Book of Concord (original publication, 1580; first Portuguese translation, 1980) on the basis of the original German and/or Latin (2021); serving as a translation consultant and main biblical expert in the revision of the whole Portuguese Bible on the basis of the original text in Hebrew and Greek (2013–17); serving as a voluntary consultant for a translation project (New Testament) in Hunsrik (a Low German language spoken in South America) (2020–21); and a unique translation into Portuguese of Louw-Nida’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (2013). Other significant translations into Portuguese include: The Text of the New Testament, Aland-Aland (2013); Der Text des Alten Testaments (The Text of the Old Testament; translated from German), Alexander Achilles Fischer (2013); and Textual Guide to the Greek New Testament, Roger Omanson (2010). He is working on a commentary of 2 Corinthians for the Concordia Commentary Series.
Scholz and his wife, Iris, have three children.