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And still the wonderful reminiscences of Henry Chadwick are pouring in. Tomorrow's Times has the following:

Lives remembered: The Very Rev Professor Henry Chadwick

They are all worth reading, but I loved this in particular from Canon Tim Roper:

Henry would arrive, panting, straight from the hockey field, at 4.02 for a 4pm supervision. In his rooms he used to dash behind a screen while we sat demurely. “Prophesy!” he would call, and we would read our essays to a blank screen from which emerged sounds of one changing. Finally, Henry would appear, dapper as ever, and deliver himself of learned thoughts about Bultmann, form-criticism, or whatever. Thirty years later I met him. He still remembered.

And for "Smite the Amalekites", you'll have to go to the article.

See also Death of Henry Chadwick, More on Henry Chadwick and Henry Chadwick: More Lives Remembered.

Labels: Henry Chadwick, obituaries

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Today's Times also has further on Henry Chadwick in its "Lives Remembered":

Lives Remembered: Henry Chadwick

See also Death of Henry Chadwick and More on Henry Chadwick

Labels: Henry Chadwick, obituaries

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Today's Times had its obituary of Christopher Stead:

Canon Christopher Stead: distinguished patristic scholar

For earlier obituaries, see Christopher Stead Obituary.

Labels: obituaries

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I missed this one a couple of weeks ago in the Telegraph:

Canon Christopher Stead
Patristic scholar who wrote about the philosophy of the early Christian Church– and trains

I have only ever known him as a Patristics scholar, but the obituary carries the delightful additional information of his love of trains -- with a picture -- and this gem:

At 89 he published The Birth of the Steam Locomotive, a scholarly study reflecting a life-long interest.

When living at the 13th-century Black Hostelry, the former monastic infirmary at Ely, he used to maintain an O-gauge model layout in the attic, which had a branch line that went through a hole in the wall to deliver Christmas presents to his oldest son's bedroom.

Although he died on 28 May, The Times does not yet appear to have published an obituary. Today's Independent, though, has the following:

The Rev Professor Christopher Stead: Scholar of patristic thought who was the last Ely Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University
Lionel R. Wickham

Labels: obituaries

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I noticed the obituaries in The Times, The Guardian, the Telegraph, the Church Times and Cambridge University on Thursday (Death of Henry Chadwick). There are several more to mention. The Times has more personal memories in Lives Remembered,

“There are only two types of young man to whom I would refuse admission to the House,” he said (with a clear glint in the eye). “The first is the young man who, by the tender age of 17, claims to have read the complete works of Dostoevsky.” After a beautifully timed pause for thought, he continued: “The second is the young man who, by the tender age of 17, actually has read the complete works of Dostoevsky!”

The New York Times has an obituary too:

Henry Chadwick, Scholar of Early Christianity, Dies at 87
By DOUGLAS MARTIN

And on Saturday, The Independent published an obituary by Andrew Louth, from which I will excerpt the last paragraph:

The Rev Professor Henry Chadwick: Historian of the early Church who held the Regius Chairs of Divinity at both Oxford and Cambridge
Andrew Louth

. . . . He was a tall man, with a slight stoop that gave him a somewhat Olympian air, enhanced by his habitual courtesy. He did not so much speak as pronounce, though this did not diminish the warmth of his conversation. In lectures, however, he performed, and, a born rhetorician, gave impeccable scholarship elegant expression. In a story he told against himself, he used to relate how, when giving some lectures in America, he was struck by three girls who came faithfully to his lectures and listened without taking notes; towards the end of the series he asked them how they had liked his lectures, and they replied saying they had no interest in what he was saying but just loved listening to his voice. He was an adornment to the world of academe; we may never see his like again.

Labels: Henry Chadwick, obituaries, Scholars

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I was sorry to hear of the death of Henry Chadwick on Tuesday, also mentioned by Rob Bradshaw on Earlychurch.org.uk. Today's Times has the obituary:

The Very Rev Professor Henry Chadwick: priest and scholar

The end of the obituary mentions his college sermons. That was the only time I met him, when he came to preach at Exeter College when I was an undergraduate there. I still remember the topic, the Good Samaritan, and our discussion afterwards, which was about jazz and the Beatles.

Rob Bradshaw mentions the obituaries in the Telegraph and The Guardian. Tomorrow's Times has a piece in Lives Remembered, which, as usual, raises a smile:

. . . . Towards the end of his time as Master of Peterhouse, he confided to me that he had concerns about moving his books from the Master’s Lodge to his rather smaller house in St John’s Street, Oxford. “Do you have many books?” I fatuously asked. “About 20,000,” he replied, without any apparent perception that this was unusual.

When he was kind enough to sponsor my application for a reader’s ticket for the Bodleian Library, he signed off the necessary form as “Henry Chadwick, Master of Peterhouse”; but, clearly concerned that this style might not cut much ice at Oxford, he added “and sometime Dean of Christ Church”. There was not much space left after that but, evidently still uneasy, he found room to add “and Curator of Bodley”. In his covering letter to me, he wrote: “I hope the enclosed does the trick . . . ” It did.

There are also pages at the University of Cambridge tomorrow (though it wrongly gives his age as 88) and tomorrow's Church Times. The latter also has an obituary but it is subscription only.

Labels: Henry Chadwick, obituaries, Scholars

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Tomorrow's Times has an obituary of Xavier-Léon Dufour who died on 13 November, aged 95.

Xavier-Léon Dufour
Liberal scholar who brought historical analysis to Bible study

Xavier-Léon Dufour was one of the greatest liberal Bible scholars of the 20th century. As such, he often found himself at odds with the conservative Catholic hierarchy, not least with Pope Pius XII himself.

Using historical and critical scholarship to challenge more fundamentalist approaches to the Bible was not, he insisted, to deny the divine element in the origin of Scripture. But the text as we have it today was written by men at specific periods of history.And a critical study of both the men and the history, Dufour maintained with passion, was vital to an understanding of the sacred text.

The new scholarship which had its origin in the work of 19th-century German Protestant scholars, met resistance both from the Catholic hierarchy and from parts of the Protestant establishment. Dufour himself was accused of seeking to deprive priests of their faith . . .

This was the first I had heard of Dufour's death (but I now notice that it was announced in Bibbiablog a few weeks ago). I never met him but one of my great influences, John Ashton, was taught by him and often used to sing his praises.

Labels: NT Scholars, obituaries

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I commented on the sad death of H. Benedict Green in September. The Church Times recently had an obituary:

Obituary: FR BENEDICT GREEN CR
The Very Revd Victor de Waal and Esther de Waal

A couple of things in the obituary may be of interest to scholars of the Synoptic Problem. The obituary mentions that Benedict Green was schooled at Eton, and I might add that that is where he first met his younger contemporary Michael Goulder. (The New Testament scholar Anthony Harvey was also at Eton at the same time). The obituary also notes Father Benedict's connections with Oxford. His father F. W. Green was a fellow of Merton College, and it was his father's commentary on Matthew that Father Benedict later updated, in the Clarendon Bible, and still very much worth consulting today. The Farrer Theory has a marked Oxford pedigree. Austin Farrer spent most of his academic career there; Michael Goulder and H. Benedict Green were both students there, and Michael later returned to give the Speakers Lectures. E. P. Sanders, a Farrer sympathiser, was Dean Ireland Professor there in the second half of the 1980s, a fact that probably has a lot to do with my own Q scepticism, and Eric Franklin, author of Luke: Critic of Matthew, Interpreter of Paul was there from the 1970s until his sad death recently. Other Farrerians are still in Oxford, John Muddiman, my doctoral supervisor; Robert Morgan, recently retired; and Eric Eve.

Back to the obituary, its authors mention that "his major work on this subject became his monumental Matthew: Poet of the Beatitudes, finally published in 2001. I would like to underline that this is a fine book, and it is one that is only going to be fully appreciated now after his death.

Labels: obituaries

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Yesterday's Guardian has a beautifully written obituary of Charlie Moule by Bob Morgan:

The Rev CFD Moule
Gentle theologian with unique insights into New Testament ethics
Robert Morgan

. . . . It is, however, the person, as much as the work, that will be remembered. The transfer of the label "Holy Mouley" (from his great-uncle, the first principal of Ridley and conservative scholar bishop of Durham) to the modest, approachable and pastoral professor, had substance as well as affection in it. Those who heard him preach or lecture sensed deep seriousness, humanity and devotion, but in conversation it was the light touch and puckish sense of humour that stood out . . .

. . . In the faculty, his wisdom usually prevailed, showing gentleness and humility are not to be confused with weakness.

This obituary gives more detail than the others of the career of Charlie Moule as a New Testament scholar. For the Times, Telegraph and Independent obituaries, see the C. F. D. Moule label. Thanks to Bridget Gilfillan Upton for letting me know about it.

Labels: C. F. D. Moule, NT Scholars, obituaries

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The Times has another Lives Remembered piece on C. F. D. Moule:

Lives Remembered

The Rev Professor C. F. D. Moule

The Rev Bernard Wrightson writes: Professor Charlie Moule (obituary, Oct 5 , and Lives Remembered, Oct 11), presented me with a copy of his Phenomenon of the New Testament in 1969 and asked me to keep it unopened until I was clear of the college. He said that he was very proud of this book because it was the only one with his illustrations. In fact he had simply drawn round a coin to illustrate the dividing line between the Jesus of history and the Lord of faith. I note on the page with his best wishes and his signature a distinct marmalade stain. During our meeting we had been sitting inelegantly on the floor eating toast while sharing problems about chapel attendence and other matters. He more than anyone was responsible for my later career change.

Labels: C. F. D. Moule, obituaries

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Today's Times has several delightful reminiscences about Charlie Moule:

Lives Remembered: The Rev Professor Charles Moule

The first is from the well known journalist (and star of Grumpy Old Men) Matthew Parris, but the second is so good it's worth quoting in full:

The Rev Christopher Leffler writes: As a very new undergraduate in 1954 I went to a lunchtime meeting of the Church Missionary Society Association in Professor Moule's rooms. Nervously I knocked and undergraduate voices welcomed me in. It was not until the end when they thanked the great man for use of his rooms that I discovered that he had spent the meeting eating his sandwiches on the floor behind the sofa while the undergraduate officers and speaker had his best chairs. No wonder he was so loved as well as respected.

I can think of few academics who achieve this kind of humility. I met Charlie Moule once, when he came to preach at Exeter College chapel, when I was an undergraduate in Oxford, and it does not surprise me to hear such nice things being said about such a lovely man.

Labels: C. F. D. Moule, NT Scholars, obituaries

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This morning's Times has its obituary of C. F. D. Moule:

The Rev Professor C. F. D. Moule
Influential New Testament scholar whose deep learning and powers of sympathy won him many admirers at Cambridge

Labels: C. F. D. Moule, NT Scholars, obituaries

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I was sorry to hear this morning of the death of C. F. D. Moule:

The Reverend Professor CFD Moule

The Rev Professor C. F. D. Moule

The first of these obituaries is from the Daily Telegraph and the second is from The Independent. Thanks to Jim West for the note.

Labels: C. F. D. Moule, NT Scholars, obituaries

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The April edition of the SBL Forum is now available. It covers several things that have been mentioned here in the past. In particular, it is good to see a prompt obituary of Reginald Fuller. I must admit that I have been surprised at how little other bibliobloggers have commented on the sad death of such a major New Testament scholar (mentioned here last Friday). Also, Mark Chancey has an article called Bible Courses in Public Schools: SBL's Response to a Growing Trend. I have often mentioned Mark's interesting work in this area here and it is good to see him carrying that work forward now with the SBL in a new consultation.

Labels: Mark Chancey, obituaries, Reginald Fuller, SBL, SBL Forum

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Evangelical Textual Criticism is collecting tributes to Bruce Metzger, so far Iain Torrance, Princeton Theological Seminary and Mike Holmes. No doubt there will be many more to come. Here's an obituary from the LA Times:

Bruce Manning Metzger, 93; New Testament scholar helped edit, update Bible translations
By Mary Rourke, Times Staff Writer

The piece focuses on some of the gender inclusive language in the NRSV translation:

. . . . Soon after Metzger and his colleagues completed their work in 1989, he pointed out some of the changes in an interview with The Times.

The phrase, "Man shall not live by bread alone," from the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy and the New Testament Gospels of Matthew and Luke, was adjusted to read, "One shall not live by bread alone."

"O men of little faith," in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, became "O you of little faith." The original Greek text did not use the word for man in that phrase, Metzger said. To insert it was "an unnecessary, restrictive" addition, he told The Times . . .

This reminds me of the one occasion I met Prof. Metzger. He came to lecture in Birmingham on the NRSV in 1996 and my colleague David Parker, a friend of Metzger's, introduced me -- and he was as delightful in person as everyone says he was. I remember one thing in particular from his lecture. When discussing the issue of gender inclusive translation, he explained the difficulties over translating sentences traditionally translated with male-specific language, like "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear". Prof. Metzger explained that he had received a letter from someone strongly urging him to use the new gender inclusive pronoun "thon", thus "Whoever has ears to hear, let thon here." He said that he replied to her by saying that he would be willing to consider the use of "thon" as soon as it appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Labels: Bible Translation, Bruce Metzger, NT Scholars, obituaries, Textual Criticism

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The death of Dom. Bernard Orchard was reported in Hypotyposeis last week, following on from a note on Synoptic-L from Peter Head pointing to The Times Obituary of 5 December. I met Dom Orchard once, at the SNTS Meeting in Birmingham in 1997. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to attend his short paper at that meeting because I was run off my feet with organizing things, and our second daughter had just been born.

There is also a full obituary in The Independent from 6 December, written by Hugh O'Shaughnessy:

Dom Bernard Orchard
Monk and twice headmaster who transformed Ealing Priory School into the modern St Benedict's

Orchard, by nature a conservative and uncomfortable with some of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, devoted the rest of his life at the abbey to scriptural scholarship which allowed him to continue expressing forthright views with passion, even combativeness. For instance, defending the traditional teaching that St Matthew's gospel antedated St Mark's, in the US Catholic magazine This Rock in 1996 he commented with characteristic tartness,

It has been unfortunate that the combination of an exhilarating freedom to pursue historical criticism with church approval and the reassuring support of the prestigious faculties of the German and American universities has convinced the Markan Priorists that they cannot be wrong.

The Old Priorian Association has a PDF obituary here:

R.I.P. John Bernard Orchard

The Telegraph obituary of 8 December is here:

Dom Bernard Orchard

. . . . His scholarly work was not deeply original, and his judgment was sometimes questioned. But he had a gift for organising, stimulating and coordinating scholars to produce research of lasting value. As chairman of the Catholic Biblical Association of Great Britain he ruled with headmasterly severity for decades.

Orchard edited A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (1953), the first one-volume Catholic commentary since the opening out of biblical studies after Pope Pius XII's encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu. With Fr Reginald Fuller, he set about providing Catholics with an accurate modern translation of the Bible. They obtained the copyright holders' permission to adapt and amend the American Revised Standard Version, and produced an edition that Catholics could use in the liturgy and biblical studies, though it took 10 years before the RSV-Catholic Edition was published with an imprimatur . . . .

. . . . During six years in Rome he became the founder and chairman of the World Catholic Federation for the Biblical Apostolate, and acted as spiritual director of the Beda College. He published his Synopsis of the Four Gospels, in English and Greek editions. With Professor William Farmer of Dallas and Professor TRW Longstaff he wrote papers and inspired international conferences aimed at reviving the 18th-century theory that the first synoptic gospel to be written was Matthew, followed by Luke and finally Mark.

At one stage no biblical conference in the British Isles seemed complete without this tall, strong, silver-haired figure, who also lectured on his theory so widely abroad that some wondered if he did not like being in his monastery. But he remained true to his community, and from 1981 was the titular cathedral prior of Canterbury . . . .

Labels: obituaries

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There is a brief reaction to The Times Obituary of James Barr. This is from Lives Remembered, Comments, October 26:

M. E. J. Richardson writes: To say of James Barr (obituary, October 18) that “his Hebrew muse seemed to have deserted him” when he took up the Regius Chair of Hebrew fails to take note of the time he invested for the Oxford University Press in preparing material for a new edition of its dictionary of biblical Hebrew. The decision to abandon the project because of lack of funds was a great disappointment to him.

To say that he was “reluctant to engage in serious oral debate and discussion” fails to ring true to many colleagues. An academic discussion at one of his lectures revealed that he had not advanced any thesis without fully considering the merits of the antithesis. When invited to debate publicly with the Professor of Ugaritic at the Pontifical Institute in Rome about the translation of some of the cruces interpretum in the Book of Job, he readily accepted. His opponent, who had not met him before that, was afterwards heard to remark that he had been somewhat surprised to find that their fundamental disagreements could be laid to rest in such a cordial and dignified way . . . .

Labels: obituaries

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Today's Herald has an obituary of James Barr:

Rev Professor James Barr
JOHNSTON MACKAY
Theologian and leading Old Testament scholar; Born March 20, 1924; Died October 14, 2006

Labels: obituaries

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Today's Times has an obituary of James Barr:

Professor James Barr
March 20, 1924 - October 14, 2006
Distinguished Hebraist and biblical scholar who exposed grave flaws in the traditional approaches to philology and exegesis

Update (13.37): just noticed that Tyler Williams had already mentioned The Times obituary.

Update (Thursday, 18.49): Doug Chaplin comments on the revamped Metacatholic -- James Barr and the slow death of the etymological fallacy.

Update (Friday, 7.24): Jim Davila comments on Paleojudaica and Pete Williams comments on Evangelical Textual Criticism.

Labels: obituaries

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I was very sorry to read in Jim West's blog of the death of Daryl Schmidt on 21 March. The announcement also appears on the Westar Institute website, with an obituary here:

Westar mourns loss of Fellow, Daryl Schmidt

And it adds a link to his "Odyssey" from The Fourth R in 1995:

Fundamentally Pluralistic

I met Daryl once and greatly enjoyed his company. We appeared together on the Radio 4 programme Beyond Belief on the resurrection, which also featured a short interview with Michael Goulder. It's still available on-line to listen to -- go to 25 March 2002 and hit "Go".

Labels: obituaries

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The Westar Institute has published a short obituary of Robert Funk:

Robert Funk Obituary

Labels: obituaries

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I have commented previously on the Times Obituary of Neville Birdsall written by my colleague David Parker. Thanks to Richard Birdsall for pointing out to me that there was also an obituary in The Independent:

Professor J. Neville Birdsall
Formidably erudite New Testament scholar

Unfortunately, the bulk of the article is subscription only.

See also this special page at the University of Birmingham's new ITSEE:

Professor J. Neville Birdsall

It features the eulogy delivered by David Parker at Neville Birdsall's funeral. And see too a brief Leeds University Obituary.

Labels: ITSEE, obituaries

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On Earlychurch.org.uk Rob Bradshaw notes the passing of W. H. C. Frend on July 1, with a link to this obituary in the Telegraph:

The Rev Prof William Frend

Labels: obituaries

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The Times today has an obituary of Neville Birdsall:

J. Neville Birdsall
March 11, 1928 - July 1, 2005
New Testament scholar and champion of the traditional skills of textual criticism

It is written by my colleague Prof. David Parker.

Labels: obituaries

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A lot of my blogging for the next day or two is going to be in the "in case you missed it" category given that I'm behind; I have not caught up with all the blogs either, so may well be repeating things on a regular basis. But here's one such item, from SBL Forum:

Paul Ricoeur (1913-2005)
André LaCocque

Labels: obituaries

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I was sorry to read of the death of Maurice Wiles on Hypotyposeis. Today's Telegraph has an obituary:

The Rev Professor Maurice Wiles

It's a fascinating obituary. I read a lot of Maurice Wiles when I was in Oxford and occasionally heard him lecture; I think I met him on a couple of occasions, but I was rather in awe of him. I found him somewhat austere compared to others of his Christ Church colleagues like Rowan Williams and John Fenton, who seemed to nervous youngsters like me to be more approachable. A fine Patristics scholar and a brilliant theologian.

Labels: obituaries

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Thanks to Holger Szesnat for this alert:

French thinker Paul Ricoeur dies
French philosopher and teacher Paul Ricoeur, whose interests ranged from phenomenology to biblical exegesis, has died, aged 92.

The story is from BBC News. This short obituary is from the LA Times:

Paul Ricoeur, 92; French Theorist Studied Types of Interpretation
Associated Press

From Swissinfo:

Leaders pay tribute to French philosopher Ricoeur

The rest of the stories are variations of the same Associated Press story.

Update (20.06): AKMA comments.

Labels: obituaries

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From today's Guardian news of the death of Hugh Montefiore, whom many will know for his NT scholarship, but also as a very important figure in the Church. I first heard of him from his book on Thomas, and was then excited to find out that the Bishop of Birmingham was in fact the same person:

The Rt Rev Hugh Montefiore
Progressive Anglican theologian and cleric who spoke up for literary freedom, women priests and the environment
Michael de-la-Noy

. . . . After war service with a commission in the Royal Artillery, he was ordained deacon in 1949, at the age of 29, and was priested a year later. After serving a brief curacy in Newcastle, he was appointed, in 1951, as chaplain and tutor at the Cambridge theological college, Westcott House.

Two years later, Montefiore's gifts as a New Testament scholar ensured that he was appointed vice principal of the college, a post from which he inexplicably resigned without having another job to go to - a "lunatic thing to do", as he later admitted. Nevertheless, in 1954 he began a distinguished, nine-year stint as fellow and dean of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, during the last four years of which he combined the post with that of university lecturer in New Testament studies . . . .

. . . . .Just as remarkable as his appointment as bishop of Kingston was his preferment in 1978 as bishop of Birmingham. His was the first appointment recommended by the newly constituted Crown Appointments Commission, and it is reasonable to assume that, under the previous system of choosing bishops on the old-boy network, he would never have become a diocesan . . . .

. . . . Both Aberdeen and Birmingham universities conferred honorary doctorates on Montefiore, due recognition of his scholarship and learning; between 1954 and 2002, he wrote, edited or contributed to some 40 books, publishing in 1995 a breezy autobiography with the snappy title, Oh God, What Next? For many years, he wrote a weekly article for the Church Times . . . .

Update (21.28):

Telegraph obituary

Times obituary

Bishop and eco-warrier (85) dies (BBC Birmingham)

Labels: Gospel of Thomas, obituaries

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The Times has the following obituary:

The Rev Professor Peter Ackroyd
Old Testament scholar whose meticulous research challenged and then vanquished assumptions about the later prophets

Labels: obituaries

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The October content on the SBL Forum has now appeared:

SBL Forum

It's looking a bit sparser than usual this month; perhaps there is more to come in the coming weeks. Perhaps they should have reproduced some of the bibliobloggers' discussions on the SBL Seminar Papers online! Anyway, so far there is the following:

Obituary: Jacques Derrida (1930-2004)

The Future of Biblical Studies
Marc Zvi Brettler

Effective Learning Facilitation
Heather McKay

Labels: obituaries

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I was sorry to read in today's Times of the death of Michael Prior on 21 July 2004:

Father Michael Prior
Roman Catholic priest and scholar who campaigned for the rights of Palestinians

FATHER MICHAEL PRIOR was a biblical scholar who spent much of his life writing and campaigning about the rights of the Palestinians in the Holy Land. A radical priest, he was also an outspoken critic of Zionism, which, he argued in his books, articles and lectures, was unbliblical.

The obituary mentions several of Michael Prior's publications including The Bible and Colonialism: A Moral Critique. Also worth a mention is Jesus the Liberator: Nazareth Liberation Theology (Luke 4.16-30) (The Biblical Seminar; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995).

I first met Michael Prior in 2001 when I began external examining at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, where he was employed from 1977 until his death. The obituary describes him as "genial and with a lively sense of humour", which is exactly right -- he was a larger than life character, with real warmth. He will be missed.

The St Mary's College web site features a research profile on Michael Prior. It also has an announcement of his death:

Professor Michael Prior CM

The end of the academic year has been marked by great sadness with the sudden and unexpected death of Professor Michael Prior CM.

Michael Prior was a man of considerable academic distinction, publicly recognised earlier this year through his personal professorship, and a man of strong loyalties and of courage and conviction. He was greatly respected by the students for the personal qualities he brought to his work. He will be greatly missed. The Requiem Mass for Michael Prior was held on Friday 30 July.

The Daughters of Charity have carry the following affectionate tribute:

Tribute to Fr Michael Prior CM

And The Tablet obituary of 31 July is reproduced on this Vincentian Priests and Brothers site, with some further links too:

FR MICHAEL PRIOR CM

Labels: obituaries

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Jack Kilmon on Xtalk mentions the sad news of the death of Hyam Maccoby. This obituary is from The Independent:

Professor Hyam Maccoby
Stormy petrel of biblical scholarship and author of books on Jesus, St Paul and Judas Iscariot
Albert H. Friedlander

Labels: obituaries

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The Ecole Biblique web site announces the sad news that Marie-Émile Boismard died on 23 April:

Fr. Marie-Émile Boismard, o. p. (1916-2004): Notice Nécrologique

This full obituary is written by Jerome Murphy O'Connor and reports on Boismard's life and research. There is a bibliography at the end.

Update (30 April): URL has now changed to:

Fr. Marie-Émile Boismard, o. p. (1916-2004): Notice Nécrologique

Labels: obituaries

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I was sorry to read on RogueClassicism of the death of Keith Hopkins. New York Times obituary:

Keith Hopkins, 69, Historian With an Unusual Approach, Is Dead
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON

See also The Guardian. I never met Hopkins but almost did once -- he was a successful "media don" and was well liked by documentary makers who found his approach lively, engaging and televisual. So he appeared on New Testament related documentaries as well as those on the ancient world more broadly; I took part in an ITV series called The Apostles and the episode on Matthew featured Hopkins prominently as well as Graham Stanton.

Labels: obituaries

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Thanks to Jim West in his blog and on Xtalk for this link with the sad news of the death of Jürgen Roloff and a brief obituary:

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Roloff verstorben
Am 21. Februar 2004 ist Prof. Dr. Jürgen Roloff, emeritierter ordentlicher Professor für Neues Testament an der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, im Alter von 73 Jahren verstorben.

Labels: obituaries

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In today's Herald an obituary of R. E. O. White who died aged 89 on September 4.

Rev R. E. O. White, Obituary

White was author of several books on the New Testament including The Biblical Doctrine of Initiation (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1960). His Festschrift appeared in 1999, S. E. Porter and A. R. Cross (eds.), Baptism, the New Testament and the Church: Historical and Contemporary Studies in Honour of R.E.O. White (JSNTSup, 171; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999).

Labels: obituaries

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Old Testament scholar Norman Porteous died on September 3 aged 104. The Times published an obituary earlier today:

The Rev Professor Norman Porteous: Obituary

Labels: obituaries

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