Scottish biblical scholar (1910-1990)
Frederick Fyvie Bruce FBA (12 October 1910 – 11 September 1990), usually cited as F. F. Bruce, was Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester from 1959 until 1978 and one of the most influential evangelical scholars of the second half of the twentieth century. His importance comes from the fact that when the academic community looked down upon Evangelicals, Bruce demonstrated that a scholar holding evangelical views could do worthwhile academic work. At the same time, he persuaded Evangelicals that they should not turn their backs on academic methods of Bible study, even if the results might differ from traditional evangelical views. As a result, he has been called the "Dean of Evangelical Scholarship".[1]
I. Howard Marshall remembered F. F. Bruce "first of all for his highly distinguished academic career as a university teacher and a prolific writer who did more than anybody else in this [the 20th] century to develop and encourage conservative evangelical scholarship. Possessed of outstanding intellectual ability, a phenomenal memory, encyclopedic knowledge, a colossal capacity for work, and a limpid style, he produced a remarkable output of books and essays that will continue to be read for years to come, and he trained directly or indirectly many younger scholars now working in all parts of the world."[2]
"The issues which, for Bruce, were non-negotiable," said his biographer Tim Grass, "may be summarized as the reliability of the New Testament, the person and work of Christ, the Christian life as one of forgiveness and liberty as befits those who are being led by the Spirit, and the right and duty of every believer to use whatever gifts God has given them."[3]
F. F. Bruce was charitable, gentle, and respected those with whom he disagreed and those who disagreed with him. He seemed to be genuinely humble, teachable, and diplomatic. J. I. Packer said, "No Christian was ever more free of narrow bigotry, prejudice and eccentricity in the views he held and the way he held them; no man did more to demonstrate how evangelical faith and total academic integrity may walk hand in hand."[4]
Early life
F.F. Bruce was born in Elgin, Moray, Scotland, in 1910. His father, Peter Fyvie Bruce, was an itinerant evangelist who encouraged his son to think for himself and accept as a biblical doctrine only what he could see for himself in the Bible. F.F. Bruce and his father were part of a group of “people called Brethren,”[5] or “Christian Brethren” (and in North America “Plymouth Brethren"). Bruce said that two characteristics of the Brethren are fidelity to the truth of the Gospel and the importance of Christian freedom. For more background, see https://www.ffbruce.com/who-are-the-brethren/
“Young Fred early gave evidence of exceptional intellectual ability, which was encouraged to the full by his family and schools.”[6] He studied Latin and Greek at University of Aberdeen where he won a scholarship in the Classics and received an MA.
At Aberdeen, he also met Betty Davidson, who was from a Brethren family, and they married in 1936. They had two children. Iain married and became a professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada.[7] And while lecturing at a teacher training college in Uganda, Sheila married Christopher James Lukabyo. They fled Uganda during the time of Idi Amin and moved to Australia.[8]
After Aberdeen, Bruce studied classics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He then went to University of Vienna (Austria) to study Indo-European philology with Paul Kretschmer and others.
Career
Although he intended to study for a Ph.D. at Vienna, F.F. Bruce took a post as an assistant lecturer in Greek at the University of Edinburgh and then taught Greek at the University of Leeds.[9] He never earned a doctorate, although he received several honorary doctorates. His increasing focus on biblical studies led in 1947 to his becoming the first head of a new Department of Biblical History and Literature at Sheffield University.[10] In 1959 he was offered the Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at Manchester University, a position he held until his retirement in 1978.
About the time Bruce began at Sheffield, he was also “active in the formation and early development of an evangelical agency seeking to promote academic biblical study, Tyndale House at Cambridge and the associated Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical and Theological Research.”[11] These were formed in association with Inter Varsity Fellowship (later UCCF, The Christian Unions) and Bruce had a life-long association with this student organization.
Writings
A prolific author, F.F. Bruce wrote nearly sixty books and booklets, hundreds of articles and more than 2,000 book reviews. Early in his career, he edited Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words and supervised its publication in one volume from the original four volumes. Later in his career, he was named general editor of the New International Commentary of the New Testament after the death of Ned Stonehouse, who had been editor. He was also editor of the Yorkshire Celtic Studies, the Evangelical Quarterly, the Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, and the Palestine Exploration Quarterly.
The first book Bruce wrote, Are the New Testament Documents Reliable? (1943) was “based to a large extent on talks given to students.”[12] It was widely read and Christianity Today named it one of “the top 50 books that have shaped Evangelicals.”[13]
He wrote commentaries on Habakkuk (in The Minor Prophets, ed. by Thomas Edward McComiskey, Baker, 1992) Matthew, John, Acts (one on the Greek text and one on the English text), Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Philemon, Hebrews, and the Epistles of John.
He wrote several books of history – Israel and the Nations: from the Exodus to the Fall of the Second Temple; New Testament History: Jews, Romans, and the Church; and The Spreading Flame: The Rise and Progress of Christianity from Its First Beginnings to Eighth-Century England. He explained, “I have written as a historian, not as a theologian.”[14]
F.F. Bruce’s magnum opus (according to Theology Today) was his biography of Paul, published in England as Paul: Apostle of the Free Spirit and in America as Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free. The magazine Christian History said that aside from the New Testament, “the place to begin (exploring the life of Paul) is F.F. Bruce’s . . . most readable and engaging biography of Paul.” However, Robert Morgan, writing in The Journal of Theological Studies, claimed “a certain uncontroversial flatness about what we are told of Paul’s thought.”[15] Bruce might well agree with Morgan, for, as A.R. Millard said, “Readers of Bruce's extensive writings will look in vain for novel theories or speculative hypotheses spun to exhibit the Author's intellectual caliber, the sort of work that wins momentary acclaim and then is superseded. Rather, his works evaluate evidence and interpretations carefully and honestly in spare yet readable prose, lightened with amusing examples and flashes of dry wit.”[16]
Although most of Bruce's works were scholarly, he also wrote many popular works on the Bible. He viewed the New Testament writings as historically reliable and the truth claims of Christianity as hinging on their being so. To Bruce, this did not mean that the Bible was always precise or that this lack of precision could not lead to some confusion. He believed, however, that the passages that were still open to debate were ones that had no substantial bearing on Christian theology and thinking. Bruce's colleague at Manchester, James Barr, considered Bruce a "conservative liberal."[17][18]
F.F. Bruce Copyright International
When Robert Hicks, a British book publisher, realized in 2016 that many of the works of F. F. Bruce were not readily available, he enlisted the help of Larry Stone, an American publisher, and together they formed F.F. Bruce Copyright International to make Bruce's works available. They also sought to encourage an understanding of Professor Bruce's teaching on Scripture, to encourage his spirit of humility in approaching the Bible, and to encourage academic scholarship among evangelical students and leaders.
Honours
Bruce was honoured with two scholarly works by his colleagues and former students, one to mark his 60th birthday in 1970 and the other to mark his 70th birthday in 1980.
Apostolic History and the Gospel: Biblical and Historical Essays Presented to F. F. Bruce on his 60th Birthday (1970) included contributions from E. M. Blaiklock, E. Earle Ellis, I. Howard Marshall, Bruce M. Metzger, William Barclay, G. E. Ladd, A. R. Millard, Leon Morris, Bo Reicke, and Donald Guthrie.
Pauline Studies: Essays Presented to Professor F. F. Bruce on his 70th Birthday (1980) included contributions from Peter T. O'Brien, David Wenham, Ronald E. Clements, and Moisés Silva. C. F. D. Moule and Robert H. Gundry contributed to both volumes.
Bruce was elected a Fellow of the British Academy, and in 1965 served as president of the Society for Old Testament Study,[19] and also as President of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas in 1975. However, “the award that pleased him most,” said Alan Millard, “was the honorary D.D. conferred by his alma mater, Aberdeen, in 1957.”[20]
