 | Brevard S. Childs |
Brevard S. Childs, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Divinity and one of the most
influential Old Testament scholars of the 20th century, died June 23 in New
Haven. He was 83 years old.
T H I S
In Memoriam: Brevard S. Childs
Influential Old Testament scholar, beloved teacher
As an Old Testament professor at Yale Divinity School (YDS) from 1958 to 1999,
Childs shaped several generations of students and helped define new approaches
to post-war biblical scholarship. With at least eight of his books in print in
three languages and a manuscript for a new book completed shortly before his
death, Childs was a prolific author who did not shrink from fully engaging the
academic debates of his day.
“His major contribution to the field was his insistence on the importance of the
canonical shape and location of all the biblical books,” says YDS Dean Harold Attridge. “Taking this perspective enabled him to recover the ways in which scripture has
been read as a larger whole, with an integral witness to the God of Israel and
of Jesus Christ.”
Born in 1923 in Columbia, South Carolina, “Bard,” as friends and family knew him, moved as a child to Queens, New York. During
World War II, he served in the U.S. military, attaining the rank of sergeant.
Childs then attended the University of Michigan, graduating with a B.A. and an
M.A. Later, in 1950, he earned a B.D. at Princeton Theological Seminary, and
finally, in 1955, a Th.D. from the University of Basel. There, in Basel, Childs
met his wife, Ann, while in a seminar conducted by Swiss theologian Karl Barth.
Throughout his career, Barth remained one of Childs’ defining influences.
As Walter Brueggemann, a retired Old Testament professor at Columbia Theological
Seminary, noted in a 1993 review of Childs’ work, “With almost no conversation partners in the 20th century whom he regards as
consistently reliable or worthy of consideration (with the decisive exception
of Barth), Childs has staked out a position and vocation for biblical theology
that is sure to reshape our common work and that will require intense
engagement by any who dare take up the task.”
Childs’ abilities as a teacher and sheer longevity at YDS — 41 years — helped his ideas and approaches resonate through the guild of Biblical scholars
and gain an audience outside the English-speaking world, particularly Germany.
In honor of his role as a teacher, in 1992 Yale named him as a Sterling
Professor, the highest academic honor given by the University to its
professors. His talents in the classroom were also praised by his former
students, who twice
— in 1988 and 1998 — took part in festschrifts for Childs.
Ellen Davis, now a professor of Bible and practical theology at Duke Divinity
School, recalls Childs flexibility as she worked on a Ph.D. at Yale from 1983
to 1987. Says Davis,
“His scholarship was very fully integrated into his character, it would be very
difficult to separate those two. He was a Christian. His work was a form of
discipleship.”
Davis continues, “Bard was the kind of teacher and colleague he was because he was a person of
genuine humility
— not a common thing in the academic life altogether. I remember Bard saying that
in order to teach Old Testament,
‘You just need to get out of the way,’ because the text itself is so compelling and interesting. Many academics don’t know how to get out of the way — of the text, of their own students — and let something interesting happen around them. Bard did.”
Childs retired in 1999 but continued publishing, most recently in 2004 with “The Struggle To Understand Isaiah As Christian Scripture.” Shortly before his death, Childs completed a manuscript analyzing Paul’s letters, according to Seitz, who said the book is set for publication before
year’s end. Childs’ other noted works include “Myth and Reality,” “Memory and Tradition,” “Isaiah and the Assyrian Crisis,” “Biblical Theology in Crisis,” “Old Testament Theology in Canonical Context” and “Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments.”
A longtime resident of Bethany, Connecticut, Childs is survived by his wife,
Ann, and their children, Kathy and John.
A memorial service is planned for this fall. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Yale Divinity School Library,
409 Prospect St. Cards and notes may be sent to: Ann Childs, 508 Amity Rd.,
Bethany, CT 06524-3015.
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