Joseph Barber Lightfoot (1828–1889), also known as J. B. Lightfoot, was an English theologian, preacher, canon of St Paul's Cathedral, and bishop of Durham. His writings include essays on biblical and historical subject matter, commentaries on Pauline epistles, and studies on the Apostolic Fathers as well as four posthumously published volumes of sermons. Lightfoot attended King Edward’s School in Birmingham before attending Trinity College in Cambridge, where he was elected a fellow of his college. He became a tutor of Trinity College in 1857 and later a professor of divinity, editing the Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology from 1854 to 1859. In 1871, Lightfoot became canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral, preaching regularly and participating in various ecclesiastical activities. He gained enormous popularity for his work Essays on the Work Entitled Supernatural Religion, a defense of the New Testament in response to Walter Richard Cassel’s Supernatural Religion. In 1870, Lightfoot became Bishop of Durham, where he continued his theological study, writing, and preaching. Lightfoot wrote commentaries on Galatians, Philippians and Colossians, and Philemon, and his newly discovered commentary notes on Acts, John, 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter are published in the three-volume Lightfoot Legacy set.

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