Nils A. Dahl taught us "the only thing we know for sure is the text."
He knew all the theories, but emphasized the content of the Word.
Facebook has led me to contact a lot of school friends from the past. Some of these people are looking really old. Here are some departed professors we have known:
- Tjaard Hommes, Dutch Remonstrant, Notre Dame faculty.
- John Howard Yoder, Mennonite, Notre Dame faculty. He studied under Karl Barth and had considerable influence on Stanley Hauerwas. Yoder was my dissertation advisor.
- Bruce Wenger, Yale Medical School - J. P. Pierce Lab. He was our best friend at Yale and a close friend until his death from cancer. He was a member of Bethesda Lutheran Church, formerly Augustana Synod, in New Haven, down the hill from Yale Divinity School.
- Nils A. Dahl, Yale faculty. Bethesda member.
- Paul L. Holmer, Yale faculty. Bethesda member.
- Roland Bainton, Yale faculty. He was retired when we attended his lectures - including Mrs. I and LI.
- Sydney Ahlstrom, Yale faculty. I attended his talks at Bethesda, where he was a member, and his lecture on Jung at Notre Dame.
- Jaroslav Pelikan, Yale faculty. We saw him every week at Bethesda, New Haven, where I worked. He was LCMS but joined Bethesda and later joined Eastern Orthodoxy.
- Henri Nouwen, Yale faculty. He gave lectures at Yale and was a guest speaker at Notre Dame, where he had previously lost his position.
- Krister Stendahl, Harvard, lectured at Yale when I was there. We saw him every so often because his son, John, lived down the hall. John's family also attended Bethesda.
- Conrad Bergendoff, Augustana faculty. He was retired when we met him. Mrs. I visited him when he was 102, just before he died.
Still active:
- Stanley Hauerwas was let go after one year at Augustana College, where I met him. He went to Notre Dame and moved up later to Duke University. He is now the most famous theologian and ethicist in America. He was my ND professor and dissertation advisor.
- Martin Marty was someone we did not meet until Notre Dame was finished with me. I attended his lectures for Notre Dame's summer school. He was very kind in endorsing my dissertation for publication.
- Elisabeth and Francis Schuesller-Fiorenza were both pushed out of Notre Dame, where I studied with both of them. They landed at Harvard with endowed professorships!
- George Lindbeck, Yale faculty, was the official Lutheran observer at Vatican II. He attended the early service at Bethesda each Sunday.
- Stanley Olson is now the head of the ELCA division for ministry. We took classes from Dahl and Malherbe. Stan earned his PhD at Yale at taught at Luther Seminary and also became a bishop. He supports communion with any and all confessions. He also supports the latest actions of ELCA. He also attended Bethesda.
- Abraham Malherbe was another excellent New Testament professor who emphasized the Greek text, grammar, and the historical context. Like Robert Wilson, the Old Testament professor, he mocked the liberal critics whose theories did not match the facts.
Paul L. Holmer was a magnanimous, gracious professor,
the embodiment of the Christian gentleman.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Necrology - Theology Professors":
Pr Jackson you have omitted the distinguished David Valleskey from this august group.
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GJ - I did not take any classes from David Valleskey at Mequon. The first time I heard him speak was the day he delivered his Figs From Thistles/Spoiling the Egyptians lecture, endorsing the Church Growth Movement. I asked him if he went to Fuller. He denied going to Fuller. Later, he confessed and did not deny, but confessed to David Koenig that he did go to Fuller. Koenig was angry with me for publishing that fact, because Valleskey was furious with him.
