Bauckham was born in London and studied at the University of Cambridge, where he read history at Clare College (1966–72) and was a fellow of St John's College (1972–75). He taught theology for one year at the University of Leeds and for fifteen years at the University of Manchester (1977–1992), where he was the Lecturer in the History of Christian Thought before moving to St Andrews in 1992. He is a fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.