I’ve just learned that Martin Hengel has died at the age of 82.  This is a sad day for NT scholarship as Hengel is responsible for some of the best work in the field.  One thing that I always appreciated about Hengel’s work was that it was uplifting in the sense that it gave believers confidence in their faith while at the same time being honest and critical.  That’s a rare trait in today’s scholarship where sowing seeds of doubt is supposedly a commendable thing.  We need more like Hengel, no question about it.  For the interested reader some of Hengel’s articles are available online from the Institute of Biblical Research site.  They are as follows:

• “Tasks of New Testament Scholarship” [PDF | MS Word | HTML]
• “Ἰουδαία in the Geographical List of Acts 2:9-11 and Syria as Greater Judea” [PDF | MS Word | HTML]
• “Paul in Arabia” [PDF | MS Word | HTML]

Larry Hurtado wrote an article for the Expository Times last year entitled “Martin Hengel’s Impact on English-speaking Scholarship” that I recommend to one and all, and in honor of Martin Hengel’s memory I will make it a point to review his book The Four Gospels and the One Gospel of Jesus Christ at some point during this month.  I will also post selected quotations from his The Son of God: The Origin of Christology and the History of Jewish Hellenistic Religion along with random reflections.  My condolences and prayers are with his friends and family. 

(HT: Fred Sanders)

B”H