HOMENAJE AL DR MARVIN WILSON

Biographical Sketch of Marvin R. Wilson

Dr. Marvin R. Wilson is the Harold J. Ockenga Professor of Biblical and

Theological Studies at Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts (01984). His Ph.D.
is from Brandeis University in the field of Semitic and ancient Near Eastern Studies.
In 1971 he joined the Gordon faculty where he currently teaches Old Testament,
Hebrew, Jewish history and culture, and modern Judaism. Presently, he also serves
on the faculty senate.

In 1979 Wilson was made recipient of Gordon's first endowed professorial chair,
named for former Gordon president Harold J. Ockenga. Dr. Wilson chaired the
Department of Biblical Studies from 1971-1988 and prior to that served as chair for
eight years at Barrington College in Rhode Island. Professor Wilson has been
honored three times at Gordon commencements with the senior faculty award for
"Excellence in Teaching" (1974,1989, 2000).

The educational background of Professor Wilson includes Wheaton College (A.B.,

cum laude), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div., summa cum laude) and
Brandeis University (M.A., Ph.D.). At Brandeis, Dr. Wilson's mentor was Professor
Cyrus Gordon, noted Jewish biblical scholar and archaeologist.

An active writer, Dr. Wilson has authored or edited seven books and also penned
more than 200 articles or reviews in both scholarly works and popular periodicals.
Four of his books deal with the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Dr.
Wilson's most recent work (now in its 13th printing) is a textbook on the Hebrew
heritage of the church titled Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian
Faith (Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. and Center for Judaic-Christian Studies, 1989,
395 pp.). His other previous works in Christian-Jewish relations are Evangelicals
and Jews in Conversation (M.H. Tanenbaum, M.R. Wilson and A.J. Rudin, eds.,
1978, 326 pp.), Evangelicals and Jews in an Age of Pluralism (M.H. Tanenbaum,
M.R. Wilson and A.J. Rudin, eds., 1984, 285 pp.) and A Time to Speak: The
Evangelical-Jewish Encounter (A.J. Rudin and M.R. Wilson, eds., 1987 pp.).

Professor Wilson served as an Old Testament translator and editor of the New
International Version, currently the best selling Bible in the English speaking world.
He also contributed the notes to two Old Testament books in the NIV Study Bible.

Professor Wilson is a frequent speaker in churches and synagogues, at conferences,

and on radio and TV. On both local and national levels, as well as abroad, he is
actively involved in building bridges of understanding between Christians and Jews
and in educating the Christian world in its Hebraic origins. His innovative field-trip
course at Gordon titled "Modern Jewish Culture" has been cited as an educational
model in the field of Christian-Jewish relations.

Professor Wilson's scholarly activity reflects not only an interest in the Jewish
Scriptures, but also the land and people that gave them birth. Coordinating his
efforts with those of the Jewish community, Dr. Wilson served as an organizer and
co-director of three national conferences of Christians and Jews here in the U.S.,
with religious leaders attending from this country, Canada and Israel.

Twenty-five extensive study tours of Israel and the Middle mast have been made by
Professor Wilson. In Israel he has taken part in the archaeological dig at the ancient
Philistine city of Tel Qasile.
On several occasions he has been invited as part of a select group to meet with
various leaders in Israel and the West Bank - Arab, Jewish and Christian - to
discuss political, religious and economic issues. Currently, Dr. Wilson is co-director
of the annual Gordon Bible Lands Pilgrimage program which has brought over
eight hundred Christian leaders and lay people to the Holy Land.

Professor Wilson has lectured at a variety of institutions, including the following:

Atlanta Bible College, Bethel College, Carson Newman College, Christian
Theological Seminary, Denver Seminary, East Oklahoma College, Eastern College,
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, New York Jewish
Theological Seminary, Oral Roberts University Graduate School of Theology,
Skidmore College, Southwest Missouri State University, Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Wheaton College
(Illinois). He has also lectured at conferences in Canada, England, Jamaica, W.I.,
Israel and Switzerland.

Dr. Wilson currently serves the following organizations:

Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem, Israel; international advisory committee.
Bridges for Peace, Jerusalem, Israel; advisory board.
Center for Judaic-Christian Studies, Dayton, Ohio; advisory board.
Holocaust Center, North Shore Jewish Federation, Marblehead, Massachusetts;
education committee.
Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research, Jerusalem, Israel; board of contributing
scholars.
Lexington Christian Academy, Lexington, Massachusetts; senior advisory council.
National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel, New York, NY; national
advisory council.
Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum Foundation, Inc., advisory board and honors
committee.