Edwin Masao Yamauchi (born 1937 in Hilo, Hawaii) is a Japanese-American historian, (Protestant) Christian apologist, editor and academic.
Other areas where Yamauchi has written include the social and cultural history of first century Christianity, the relevance of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls for New Testament studies, the primary source value of Josephus' writings, and the role of the Magi in both ancient Persia and in the nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew.
Yamauchi revisited the corpus of Smith's writings on the topics of the lost gospels and Jesus as a magician-healer in his lengthy essay on magic and miracles (1986).
One problem Yamauchi found was Smith's anachronistic use of third, fourth and fifth century AD Greek magical papyri sources in his reinterpretation of Christ as a magus-magician.
He has contributed popular articles to periodicals such as the Christianity Today magazine on the resurrection of Christ and in response to controversial claims made about the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Based on an interview, there is a biographical article in The Grains of Rice: Cincinnati Chapter Japanese American Citizens League, September 2001.