Brevard Springs Childs (September 2, 1923 – June 23, 2007) was an American Old Testament scholar and Professor of Old Testament at Yale University from 1958 until 1999 (and Sterling Professor after 1992), who is considered one of the most influential biblical scholars of the 20th century.G.T. Sheppard, "Brevard Childs", Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation (Abingdon Press, 1999), 178-179.
Thought Childs is particularly noted for pioneering the canonical approach, a way of interpreting the Bible that focuses on the text of the biblical canon itself as a finished product. In fact, Childs disliked the term, believing his work to represent an entirely new departure, replacing the entire historical-critical method.Brevard S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (SCM, 1979), 82–83. Childs set out his canonical approach in his Biblical Theology in Crisis (1970) and applied it in Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (1979). This latter book has been described as "one of the most discussed books of the 1980s".Tremper Longman, Old Testament Commentary Survey, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), 19.
Childs' influences included Karl BarthObituary at Yale University and Hermann Gunkel.Daniel R. Driver, Brevard Childs, Biblical Theologian (Baker Academic, 2012) §4 "Form-Final Form-Canon after Gunkel". Charles Scalise in his book From Scripture to Theology states that Child's canonical hermeneutics uses three of Barth's hermeneutical tools which include "(1) Barth's focus on interpreting the (Scriptural) text as it stands, (2) the 'postcritical' perspective of Barth's hermeneutics and (3) Barth's emphasis on the theological nature of canon in interpreting Scripture".Charles Scalise (1996) From Scripture to Theology, p 47. InterVarsity Press.
Christopher Seitz argues that
Professor Childs single-handedly effected major and sustained changes in the conceptual framework of modern biblical studies through appeal to the canonical presentation of biblical books and the theological implications of attending to their final form.Obituary at Society of Biblical Literature
Seitz has also noted that "there is a small cottage industry in evaluating the contribution of Brevard Childs."Christopher R. Seitz, "The Canonical Approach and Theological Interpretation" in Craig Bartholomew et al (eds.), Canon and Biblical Interpretation, p. 61. For example, John Barton writes about Childs' response to those who claimed that historical criticism "deliberately took away the Bible's religious claims in order to subject it to analysis". In Childs' canonical approach, writes Barton, "the interpreter of the Bible should not confront the biblical text as if it were a newly discovered document." To the contrary, as Barton reads Childs, "a properly theological reading of the Bible, by contrast, would treat it just as it stands as a vehicle of a living faith."John Barton The Nature of Biblical Criticism (Westminster John Knox, 2007), 143-144.
Education Childs' formal education was interrupted during 1943-45 while he was serving in the United States Army during World War II. After being discharged, he continued his academic work at the University of Michigan.http://manuscripts.ptsem.edu/collection/41 "The Brevard S. Childs Manuscript Collection" at Princeton Theological Seminary. B.A., M.A. - University of Michigan (1947) B.D. - Princeton Theological Seminary (1950) Th.D. - University of Basel (1955) In addition to his earned degrees, Childs was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Theology by the University of Aberdeen in 1981 and by the University of Glasgow in 1992.http://manuscripts.ptsem.edu/collection/41 "The Brevard S. Childs Manuscript Collection" at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Life
Most of Childs' professional life was spent in the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. From 1958-1999, he was Professor of Old Testament at Yale University. In 2007, shortly after returning from his spring residence in the United Kingdom, Childs suffered a severe fall at his home in Connecticut from which he did not recover. He had continued writing and publishing until the end.Christopher R. Seitz, "Tribute to Brevard S. Childs at the International SBL Meeting in Vienna, Austria" in Christopher R. Seitz, Richards Kent Harold, eds, The Bible as Christian Scripture: The Work of Brevard S. Childs (Society of Biblical Literature, 2013), 1.
Childs was survived by his wife, Ann, and their children, Cathy and John.
Ellen Davis of Duke Divinity School studied under Childs and notes:
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.Yale Divinity School obituary online at
In 1990, a Festschrift was published in his honor. Canon, Theology, and Old Testament Interpretation: Essays in Honor of Brevard S. Childs included contributions from James Barr, John Van Seters, Ronald E. Clements, and James Luther Mays.
Works In addition to the following books, during the 1955–2006 period, Childs wrote some eighty articles and reviews.Christopher R. Seitz, Richards Kent Harold, eds, The Bible as Christian Scripture: The Work of Brevard S. Childs (Society of Biblical Literature, 2013),
Books
See also Theology of crisis
References
External links “The Life and Work of Brevard S. Childs”