E. Earle Ellis 1926-2010

I understand from Jim Hamilton that the veteran evangelical New Testament scholar E. Earle Ellis (of SWBTS) was called home today. He was known as a scholar's scholar and had been working on the International Critical Commentary on 1 Corinthians for many years. I did have the privilege of meeting him (wearing, as typically, a bow tie) and know that he was an inspiration to many, not least because of his role in founding the Institute for Biblical Research, details of which can be seen here (modelled to some extent on the Tyndale House and Tyndale Fellowship).

Up-date: Mike Bird linked to a helpful biographical sketch of Ellis written by Gerald F. Hawthorne which is available on Google Books (from the second festschift for Ellis edited by Sang-Won Son, History and Exegesis)

Another up-date: Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has a nice page honouring Earle here My favourite bit was this:

In early 2009, Southwestern Seminary placed a display in Ellis’ honor on the second floor of its A. Webb Roberts Library. The display includes a portrait of Ellis in his Edinburgh doctoral regalia, hanging above a case containing several of Ellis’ books alongside three well-worn critical editions of the Greek New Testament that Ellis used over the years.