Rev. Dr. Groves Honored

November 14, 2010

J. Alan Groves, 1952-2007, was Professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary. He was instrumental in developing the definitive electronic version of the Old Testament—the Michigan-Claremont-Westminster electronic BHS—now maintained by the J. Alan Groves Center for Advanced Biblical Research and used as the basis of many printed and electronic editions of the Hebrew Bible.

These essays honoring Al include subjects such as "Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?," "Psalm 23 as Messianic Prophecy," "Beauty in an iPod Culture," "Jonah and Janus," "Israel's Via Dolorosa," and eight others.

Endorsement:

     "Al Groves would surely have opened this volume of scholarly essays eagerly, and on scanning the contents page thought: “Why, I know every one of these contributors personally!”—little thinking that this was the motivation for the entire book. He would have been deeply moved, honored, surprised, grateful, and happy to know he was so much loved.
     "Al Groves had a special capacity to make people feel his care for, and interest in, them—and not only as students or scholars but as whole individuals. At the same time, he could gently question and probe both mind and heart in pastoral concern. Reading these pages with gratitude, he would often, surely, have paused and thought: “Now, we must talk further about this.”
     "It is wonderfully fitting that some of his closest friends, colleagues, teach- ers, and students here offer their learning and their love to the memory of such a man. This physical reminder of his largeness of heart, his lovability, his ability joyfully to unite faith and learning, makes one feel again how much he meant to those who knew, loved, and learned from him—and how much he is missed."
- Sinclair B Ferguson, The First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina; Professor of Systematic Theology, Redeemer Seminary, Dallas