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Summer 2009 | Volume 67, No. 4
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Southwestern Seminary Honors Leading NT Scholar
by Benjamin Hawkins
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary opened a display in its A. Webb Roberts Library in honor of world-renowned New Testament scholar E. Earle Ellis, research professor of theology emeritus at the seminary.
“With Dr. Ellis’ rich theological legacy in mind, Dr. and Mrs. Patterson thought it expedient to remember him in this manner—by displaying his portrait at the entranceway to Roberts Library’s second-floor commentary collection,” said Berry Driver, Jr., dean of libraries at Southwestern Seminary. Driver called Ellis an “accomplished New Testament exegete and biblical theologian.” He added that Ellis’ more than 50 years of teaching experience, 23 of them at Southwestern, have “left their mark on many pastor-theologians and biblical scholars who studied with him.”
The library display holds a dozen of Ellis’ 157 published books and articles, alongside three well-worn critical editions of the Greek New Testament that he has used over the years. This collection of books, taken from Ellis’ personal library, also contains a photocopy of the cover and copyright page of his forthcoming book, The Sovereignty of God in Salvation: Biblical Essays. Ellis said the book, which is due to be released in 2009, discusses the sovereignty of God not only in the salvation of individuals but also His sovereignty over the writing and transmission of the Hebrew and Greek texts of Scripture.
“Dr. Ellis represents classical biblical scholarship in its truest form,” said Paul Wolfe, associate professor of New Testament at the seminary. “His work is permeated with a commitment to thoroughgoing historical interpretation on the basis of Christian confession. He has very little tolerance for interpretive fads which jettison history or Christian confession.”
The impact of Ellis’ scholarship is portrayed by the two festschrifts that have been written in his honor. The first, published in 1987, is titled Tradition and Interpretation in the New Testament: Essays in Honor of E. Earle Ellis for his 60th Birthday. A more recent festschrift, titled History and Exegesis: New Testament essays in honor of Dr. E. Earle Ellis for his 80th Birthday, was edited by Sang-Won “Aaron” Son, one of Ellis’ former Ph.D. students and now professor of New Testament at Southwestern Seminary. High-profile New Testament scholars from across the world, including F.F. Bruce, I.H. Marshall, Seyoon Kim, N.T. Wright, Richard Bauckham, and Gordon Fee, also contributed to these volumes.
Currently, Ellis is laboring on his anticipated commentary on 1 Corinthians, which will be published in the New International Critical Commentary series.
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