Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 38:1 (Mar 1995)
Article: Memorials
Author: Anonymous

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Memorials

Gerhard Franz Hasel

Gerhard Franz Hasel was born in Vienna, Austria, on July 27, 1935. His father was a minister and literature evangelist in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. At the age of eighteen Gerhard was an electrical engineering apprentice in Frankfurt and was offered scholarships to continue. Instead, he entered a theology program at a small seminary, finishing the four-year= licentiate program in 1958. He sold books each summer to pay for his expenses.

In 1958 he journeyed to America by ship to enroll at Atlantic Union College where he earned the B.A. degree and learned English all in the same year. He then moved to Berrien Springs, Michigan, where he earned an M.A. at Andrews University in 1960, followed by the B.D. in 1962. On June 11, 1961, Gerhard married Hilde Schafer, a student at Emmanuel Missionary College, also in Berrien Springs. To this union were born three children, Michael, Marlena and Melissa, all of whom are now married.

Gerhard pastored a church in Boston for one year (1962–63) after receiving his B.D. degree, then served as assistant professor of religion at Southern College, Collegedale, Tennessee, for four years. His Ph.D. was concluded at Vanderbilt University in 1970 in Biblical studies. In 1967 he commenced a twenty-seven-year teaching career at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, moving from assistant professor to department chair, then a seven-year stint as dean, and finally as the first John Nevins Andrews Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology. He also directed the seminary’s Ph.D. and Th.D. programs. Hasel was a member of eight learned societies and two honorary societies and was listed in nine Who’s Who publications.

Hasel also contributed a great deal in the field of scholarly research and writing. He produced fourteen books and 319 articles, presented over fifty scholarly papers, and was associate editor of AUSS for over twenty years. He contributed a major article to each volume of TDOT and was an associate editor of The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology. Hasel was widely recognized around the world for his achievements. Nearly forty reviews appeared for just four of his books.

He was greatly interested in creation science, serving for twenty years as editorial consultant for Origins, and he spoke frequently at church conferences on that subject. In fact at the time of his death Hasel was en route to read a paper on the “days” of Genesis 1. On August 11, 1994, in the middle of the afternoon Hasel’s rented car was struck by an oncoming vehicle as he exited Interstate 15 near Ogden, Utah. He never regained consciousness.

Hasel died at the age of fifty-nine years. He is mourned by Hilde,...

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