Journal: Emmaus Journal
Volume: EMJ 20:1 (Summer 2011)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

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EMJ 20:1 (Summer 2011) p. 131

Book Reviews

Editor

Mark R. Stevenson

F. F. Bruce: A Life By Tim Grass, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012, 283 pages, paperback, $22.00.

If someone were to ask you, “Who was the most influential biblical scholar in the twentieth century?” what would you answer? Some university or seminary professors might suggest the theologian, Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976), who was professor of New Testament at the University of Marburg for many years and whose views dominated academic theological debates about the Bible for a half century. My nomination for the most influential biblical scholar in the twentieth century would be the evangelical scholar, Frederick Fyvie Bruce (1910–1990). My reasons for this judgment are manifold.

First, F. F. Bruce’s influence was paramount among a small group of evangelical scholars who met together from 1942 onward to prayerfully develop a strategy for, and to work toward, a renewal of biblical scholarship. These men sowed the seeds that led to a virtual renaissance in serious biblical scholarship. Their meetings led to the founding of The Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical Research, the establishment of Tyndale House, Cambridge as a center to encourage young scholars to give their lives to the serious academic study of the Bible, and the development of InterVarsity Press (first UK and then North America). All of this has had an enormous impact on the development of a renaissance of biblical scholarship.

When I was in seminary (1960–65), there were only a handful of evangelical Bible scholars whose expertise was recognized outside of “evangelical” institutions. One of my teachers, George Eldon Ladd, told me that there was only one book listed in any of the syllabii that were distributed to his fellow students at Harvard. (This was either a book by

EMJ 20:1 (Summer 2011) p. 132

Robert Dick Wilson or J. Gresham Machen; I forget which.) This was not mere prejudice against the evangelical perspective. Evangelical scholarship as a visible minority in the Academy simply did not exist! But the times were about to change! In 1951, Bruce’s celebrated commentary on The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary was published by Tyndale Press and Eerdmans. Bruce received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater (Aberdeen) for this work in 1957.

Today, evangelical Bible scholars tend to dominate academic biblical studies. We are now a visible majority! There are scores of excellent Bible commentaries, both academic and popular, coming off the press annually, alongside a massive amount of solid research that is devoted to the study of the Bible. There are many up-to-date dictionarie...

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