Search for LIMS content across all our Wiki Knowledge Bases.
Type a search term to find related articles by LIMS subject matter experts gathered from the most trusted and dynamic collaboration tools in the laboratory informatics industry.
Frederick Fyvie BruceFBA (12 October 1910 – 11 September 1990) was a Scottish evangelical scholar, author and educator who 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. When the academic community looked down upon Evangelicals, Bruce demonstrated that a scholar holding evangelical views could do worthwhile academic work. 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 for the Plymouth Brethren.[5] He encouraged his son to think for himself and accept as a biblical doctrine only what he could see for himself in the Bible.
“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]
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.
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.
Bruce, F. F. (1943). Are the New Testament Documents Reliable?. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. OCLC558247493. - republished as New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? ebook (2018), Kingsley Books, ISBN 978-1-912149-30-8
——— (1948). The Hittites and the Old Testament. Tyndale Old Testament Lecture, 1947. London: The Tyndale Press. OCLC18294175.[21]
——— (1950). The Books and the Parchments. London: Pickering & Inglis. OCLC767902467. ebook (2018), Kingsley Books, ISBN 978-1-912149-15-5
——— (1951). The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text With Introduction and Commentary (1st ed.). London: Tyndale Press. OCLC555539952.
——— (1952). The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text With Introduction and Commentary (2nd ed.). London: Tyndale Press. OCLC555539952.
——— (1955). The Book of the Acts. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. OCLC36238079.
——— (1956). Second Thoughts on the Dead Sea Scrolls. London: Paternoster Press. OCLC458914633.[22] ebook (2017), Kingsley Books, ISBN 978-1-912149-00-1
———; Simpson, Edmund K. (1957). The Epistles to the Colossians and the Ephesians. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. OCLC814437503. - Bruce wrote the Colossians commentary, and Edmund K. Simpson wrote the Ephesians commentary; see the 1984 replacement below entirely by Bruce.
——— (1957). The Teacher of Righteousness in the Qumran Texts. Tyndale lecture in biblical archaeology, 1956. London: The Tyndale Press. OCLC316107722.[23]
——— (1959). The Apostolic Defence of the Gospel. London: Inter-Varsity Press. OCLC752714965. Published in the U.S. by Wm. B. Eerdmans as The Defense of the Gospel in the New Testament. A revised edition (1977) published by IVF as First-Century Faith: Christian Witness in the New Testament. ebook (2017) published as Defending First-Century Faith, Kingsley Books, ISBN 978-1-912149-07-0
——— (1960). Biblical Exegesis in the Qumran Texts. London: The Tyndale Press. OCLC717014079.[24]
——— (1962). Paul and his Converts: 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians. Bible guides. Vol. 17. Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth Press. OCLC1070713. ebook (2017), Kingsley Books, ISBN 978-1-912149-08-7
——— (1963). The English Bible: a history of translations from the earliest English versions to the new English bible. London: Methuen. OCLC247461547.
——— (1963). Israel and the Nations: from the Exodus to the fall of the Second Temple. Exeter: Paternoster Press. ISBN 978-0-85364-150-6. OCLC803956125. Revised edition (Paternoster Press, 1983). Third edition revised by David F. Payne, Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Academic, ISBN 978-0-8308-1510-4. ebook (2021) Kingsley Books ISBN 978-1-912149-39-1
——— (1965). An Expanded Paraphrase of the Epistles Of Paul. Exeter: Paternoster Press. OCLC557807782. ebook (2017) Kingsley Books ISBN 978-1-912149-39-1
——— (1966). The Spreading Flame. The Paternoster Church History. Vol. 1. Exeter: Paternoster Press. OCLC251857737. ebook (2017) Kingsley Books ISBN 978-1-912149-11-7
——— (1968). This is That: The New Testament development of some Old Testament themes. Exeter: Paternoster Press. ISBN 978-0-85364-086-8. OCLC839915326. - (published in the US as New Testament Development of Old Testament Themes). ebook (2017) Kingsley Books ISBN 978-1-912149-01-8
——— (1969). New Testament History. London: Oliphants. ISBN 978-0-551-00511-2. OCLC613833907. ebooks (2018), Kingsley Books ISBN 978-1-912149-14-8
——— (1970). The Epistles of John. London: Pickering & Inglis. ISBN 978-0-7208-0052-4. OCLC148762. ebook (2018) Kingsley Books ISBN 978-1-912149-29-2
——— (1971). I & II Corinthians. New Century Bible. London: Oliphants. ISBN 978-0-8028-1839-3. OCLC865488780.
——— (1972). Answers to Questions. Exeter: Paternoster Press. ISBN 0-85364-101-3. OCLC468662165.
——— (1972). The Message of the New Testament. The Christian Student's Library. Vol. 10. Exeter, UK: Paternoster. ISBN 978-0-85364-128-5. OCLC751551126. ebook (2022) published as Discovering the Message of the Bible and includes The Message of the Old Testament by H.L. Ellison, Kingsley Books ISBN 978-1-912149-51-3
——— (1974). The 'Secret' Gospel of Mark: The Ethel M. Wood lecture delivered before the University of London on 11 February 1974. London: The Athlone Press. ISBN 978-0-485-14318-8. OCLC847236667.[25]
——— (1974). Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-15868-5. OCLC301397862.
——— (1977). Paul: Apostle of The Free Spirit. Exeter: Paternoster Press. ISBN 978-0-85364-209-1. OCLC807386375. Published in the US as Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans ISBN 978-0-8028-3501-7. ebook (2021) Kingsley Books ISBN 978-1-912149-38-4
——— (1978). History of the Bible in English. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-520087-4. OCLC1080679374. - (3rd edition of "The English Bible", 1963)
——— (1979). Men and Movements in the Primitive Church. Exeter: Paternoster Press. ISBN 978-0-85364-279-4. OCLC230045030. Published 1980 by Wm. B. Eerdmans as Peter, Stephen, James, and John: Studies in Early Non-Pauline Christianity, ISBN 978-0-802835321. ebook (2017) Kingsley Books as Peter, Stephen, James, and John: Studies in Early Non-Pauline ChristianityISBN 978-1-912149-18-6
——— (1981). The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians: a commentary on the Greek text. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-2387-8. OCLC824666199.
——— (1981). Places they knew: Jesus and Paul. London: Ark. ISBN 978-0-86201-110-9. OCLC778704466. - now known as Jesus and Paul: Places They Knew
——— (1982). Bible History Atlas. New York: Crossroad. ISBN 978-0-8245-0418-2. OCLC8610749.
——— (1983). Philippians. New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson. ISBN 978-0-943575-15-5. OCLC808517296.
——— (1984). Places Abraham knew; Places David knew. Places they knew. London: Scripture Union. ISBN 978-0-86201-111-6. OCLC12509992. - now known as Abraham and David: Places They Knew
——— (1988). The Canon of Scripture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-1258-5. OCLC690640649.
——— (1988). The Book of the Acts. New International Commentary on the New Testament (Revised ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-2418-9. OCLC17620016.
——— (1990). The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text With Introduction and Commentary (3rd revised & expanded ed.). London: Apollos. ISBN 978-0-85111-764-5. OCLC277179500.
——— (1990). A Mind For What Matters: collected essays of F.F. Bruce. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-0446-4. OCLC21974720.
——— (1974). "The Speeches In Acts: Thirty Years After". In Banks, Robert (ed.). Reconciliation and Hope. New Testament Essays on Atonement and Eschatology Presented to L. L. Morris on his 60th Birthday. Carlisle, UK: The Paternoster Press. pp. 53–68. ISBN 978-0-85364-165-0. OCLC642659439.[26]
——— (1982). "The Background to the Son of Man Sayings". In Rowdon, Harold Hamlyn (ed.). Christ The Lord, Studies in Christology presented to Donald Guthrie. Leicester, UK: Inter-Varsity Press. pp. 50–70. ISBN 978-0-87784-955-1. OCLC924929617.[27]
——— (March 1962). "Christianity Under Claudius". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 44 (1): 309–26. doi:10.7227/BJRL.44.2.3.
——— (March 1963). "When is a Gospel not a Gospel?". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 45 (1): 319–39. doi:10.7227/BJRL.45.2.5.
——— (March 1964). "St. Paul in Rome. 1". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 46 (2): 326–45. doi:10.7227/BJRL.46.2.4.
——— (Autumn 1965). "St. Paul in Rome. 2. The Epistle to Philemon". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 48 (1): 81–97. doi:10.7227/BJRL.48.1.5.
——— (Spring 1966). "St Paul in Rome. 3. The Epistle to the Colossians". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 48 (2): 268–285. doi:10.7227/BJRL.48.2.3.
——— (Spring 1967). "St. Paul in Rome. 4. The Epistle to the Ephesians". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 49 (2): 303–322.
——— (Spring 1968). "St, Paul in Rome. 5. Concluding Observations". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 50 (2): 262–279. doi:10.7227/BJRL.50.2.3.
——— (Spring 1969). "Galatian Problems. 1. Autobiographical Data". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 51 (2): 292–309. doi:10.7227/BJRL.51.2.3.
——— (Spring 1970). "Galatian Problems. 2. North or South Galatians?". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 52 (2): 243–266. doi:10.7227/BJRL.52.2.2.
——— (Spring 1971). "Galatian Problems. 3. The 'Other' Gospel". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 53 (2): 253–271. doi:10.7227/BJRL.53.2.2.
——— (Spring 1972). "Galatian Problems. 4. The Date of the Epistle". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 54 (2): 250–267. doi:10.7227/BJRL.54.2.2.
——— (Spring 1973). "Galatian Problems. 5. Galatians and Christian Origins". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 55 (2): 264–284.
——— (1974). "Paul and the Historical Jesus". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 56 (2): 317–335. doi:10.7227/BJRL.56.2.4.
——— (Spring 1975). "Paul and the Law of Moses". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 57 (2): 259–279. doi:10.7227/BJRL.57.2.2.
——— (1975–76). "Is the Paul of Acts the Real Paul?". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 58: 282–305.
——— (Autumn 1977). "Christ and Spirit in Paul". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 59 (1): 259–285. doi:10.7227/BJRL.59.2.2.
——— (Spring 1978). "St. John At Ephesus". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 60 (2): 339–361. doi:10.7227/BJRL.60.2.4.
——— (1979). "St. Paul in Macedonia". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 61 (2): 337–354. doi:10.7227/BJRL.61.2.5.
——— (Spring 1980). "St. Paul In Macedonia: 2. The Thessalonian Correspondence". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 62 (2): 328–345. doi:10.7227/BJRL.62.2.5.
——— (Spring 1981). "St. Paul in Macedonia: 3. The Philippian Correspondence". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 63 (2): 260–284. doi:10.7227/BJRL.63.2.2.
——— (Autumn 1982). "Acts of the Apostles To-Day". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 65 (1): 36–56. doi:10.7227/BJRL.65.1.3.
——— (Spring 1983). "Some Thoughts on the Beginning of the New Testament Canon". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 65 (2): 37–60. doi:10.7227/BJRL.65.2.3.
——— (Spring 1984). "Paul and 'The Powers That Be'". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 66 (2): 78–96. doi:10.7227/BJRL.66.2.4.
——— (Spring 1985). "The Church of Jerusalem in the Acts of the Apostles". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 67 (2): 641–661. doi:10.7227/BJRL.67.2.5.
——— (Spring 1986). "Chronological Questions in the Acts of the Apostles". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 68 (2): 273–295. doi:10.7227/BJRL.68.2.2.
——— (Spring 1987). "Paul's Apologetic and the Purpose of Acts". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 69 (2): 379–393. doi:10.7227/BJRL.69.2.4.
^Larsen, Timothy; Bebbington, David; Noll, Mark A. (2015). Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. Inter-Varsity Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-85111-987-8.
W. Ward Gasque & Ralph P. Martin (eds). Apostolic History and the Gospel: Biblical and Historical Essays Presented to F. F. Bruce on his 60th Birthday. Exeter: Paternoster; Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1970. ISBN 0-85364-098-X
D. A. Hagner & M. J. Harris (eds). Pauline Studies: Essays Presented to F. F. Bruce. Exeter: Paternoster; Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1980. ISBN 0-8028-3531-7
F. F. Bruce. In Retrospect: Remembrance of Things Past. Revised edition. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993. ISBN 0-8010-1055-1. ebook (2017) Kingsley Books, ISBN 978-1-912149-16-2
Tim Grass. F. F. Bruce. A Life. Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2012. ISBN 978-1-84227-737-9