Saint Paul, Apostle of Freedom for Women and Men -- By: W. Ward Gasque
Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 03:2 (Spring 1989)
Article: Saint Paul, Apostle of Freedom for Women and Men
Author: W. Ward Gasque
PP 3:2 (Spring 1989) p. 1
Saint Paul, Apostle of Freedom for Women and Men
An Interview with F. F. Bruce
Until his retirement in 1978, Frederick Fyvic Bruce, 78, occupied the prestigious John Rylands Chair of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at Manchester University in England. Today, he continues to be the dean of evangelical biblical scholars.
In 1951 he published a commentary on the Greek text of the Acts of the Apostles to launch what has since become a contemporary renaissance of evangelical theological research.
Generations of students have been helped by reading his little book The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable (IVP and Eerdmans), which has been regularly reprinted and revised for nearly a half century; and his New Testament History (Doubleday) has been a standard textbook in seminaries and colleges for twenty years. Lay people from all walks of life have appreciated his ability to translate the results of specialized studies into language that docs not need a seminary degree to be able to understand, in books such as History of the Bible In English (Oxford University Press) and Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free (Eerdmans), while pastors and teachers around the world look forward eagerly to each new commentary or biblical study from his pen. The latest of these, on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians for the New International Greek Testament Commentary (Eerdmans), will doubtless remain a standard work well into the next century.
A simple listing of Brace’s publications runs to fifty-six pages of small print! He is the author of more than forty books and nearly two thousand articles and reviews. In recognition for his work he was given an honorary degree by his alma mater, Aberdeen University; and he is one of the few scholars to have been elected president of both the Society for Old Testament Study and the Society for New Testament Studies.
F. F. Bruce continues his prodigious writing projects from his study in his home in Buxton, Derbyshire, a charming spa in the North of England dating back to Roman times, where he lives with his wife Betty. He has become aware of a heart condition in the past few years and is doing his best to obey his doctor’s orders and avoiding the strain of public speaking engagements, but this docs not keep him from revising old books and writing new ones. His most recent is a book on the canon of the New Testament, published by InterVarsity Press.
The following interview was conducted by W. Ward Gasque and Laurel Gasque, who recently visited with Professor and Mrs. Bruce in their home in England.
GASQUES: What has motivated you in your work ...
Click here to subscribe