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Thursday, July 27, 2006

Leon Lamb Morris (15.3.1914 – 24.7.2006)

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Just a note to say that Leon Morris died on Monday, aged 92 (obituary). He wasn't a textual critic so I wondered whether to mention it on this blog. So I'll just keep it personal: I have some notes - somewhere - which came from him on the subject of NT textual criticism which were part of my first introduction to the subject in 1983. He may not have been a textual critic, but for some of us in/from Melbourne he practically defined what it meant to be an evangelical NT scholar, and first and foremost he was a Greek New Testament man. I was a young man starting out in theological study when I heard him preach three messages straight from his Greek New Testament - these were very calm and quiet expositions, absolutely nothing flashy - on the subject of NT teaching about the atonement. They remain quietly inspirational.

5 comments

  1. Anonymous7/28/2006 1:40 am

    Thank you for this notice. I recall during some of my most trying theological tempests the sound and as you noted "quiet inspirational" reassurances would be given to me through Dr. Morris' fine writings.

    He's there now. His warfare has indeed ended.

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  2. C. Stirling Bartholomew7/28/2006 3:46 pm

    I was introduced to Leon Morris' work by my college mentor in the late 60s. He gave a lectureship where I was attending seminary 30 years ago and appeared to me as a old and frail man at that time.

    "he practically defined what it meant to be an evangelical NT scholar"

    Yes, along with FF Bruce.

    "these were very calm and quiet expositions, absolutely nothing flashy "

    Precisely, and his commentaries on John, Matthew and Romans ... are very accessible.

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  3. Mike Holmes7/31/2006 5:49 pm

    Yes, thanks for the notice. Morris was a visiting lecturer at TEDS ca. 1975, and I took him for a course on Gospel of John. Three of us in the class, along with our wives, worked up the nerve to invite him and his wife to dinner, and it was a marvelous evening. He was far more energetic than his appearance might lead one to expect, and both he and his wife were possessed of a very sharp and very dry sense of humor. He told tales of studying for his BD as he rode in the passenger seat of the vehicle while his wife drove from station to station in the Outback, where he was pastoral supply for some widely scattered stations. A model scholar who deeply respected his colleagues in the discipline (including Bultmann), who has left a legacy to which we might well aspire.

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  4. Peter M. Head8/15/2006 6:36 pm

    DA Carson:
    http://reformation21.org/Carson_on_Morris/239/

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  5. Peter M. Head9/08/2006 11:23 pm

    The Funeral Oration (by Brian Bayston): http://www.theologicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/morris_eulogy.pdf

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