Black, Matthew, 1908-1995, Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism and Principal of St. Mary's College, University of St Andrews, Scotland

Matthew Black was born on 3 September 1908. A native of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, he graduated from Glasgow University with a first in classics and a year later took a second in philosophy. In 1934, he completed his BD degree with distinction in Old Testament studies.

Postgraduate studies took him to Germany, where he studied under Professor Paul Kahle and received a doctorate from the University of Bonn. His first teaching posts in Glasgow and Manchester were in Hebrew and Semitic language, but when he went to Aberdeen in 1939, it was as lecturer in Hebrew and Biblical Criticism, with responsibilities in the New Testament field as well. He next had a five-year ministry, 1942-1947, in the parish of Dunbarney, Perthshire, but returned to academic life as lecturer in New Testament language and literature at Leeds.

In 1952, he became Professor of Biblical Criticism at Edinburgh, and in 1954, he went to St Andrews as Professor of Biblical Criticism and Principal of St Mary's College. At St Andrews, Black initiated a reconstruction of divinity degrees, which was followed by other divinity faculties in Scotland. His international reputation attracted a steady stream of postgraduate students from overseas, many of whom were later to hold chairs in their own countries. He travelled widely, lecturing in Australia and New Zealand, in Japan and in North America, as well as on the Continent.

His early studies were in Syriac and Aramaic, but later he was to apply his expertise in the Semitic languages to the New Testament, with reference particularly to the use of the title Son of Man in the Gospels, and the use of the Old Testament in the New. All his work is marked by a deep reverence for scripture, combined with a shrewd critical judgment. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls opened up a new area of research, for which he was uniquely qualified, bringing a sober, balanced and informed judgment to a field in which many studies were marked by conjecture and sensationalism. Significantly, although his last appointment, as editor of New Testament Studies was initially for a year at a time, the annual meeting of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas year by year agreed unanimously to reappoint the editor, until he himself decided that the time had come for him to retire.

His greatest single service to students of scripture, both scholarly and lay, may well have been his work as general editor and New Testament editor of the revised version of that invaluable reference work, Peake's Commentary on the Bible. Forty years of advances in scholarship and biblical archaeology, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Chester Beatty papyri, together with the accumulating knowledge of the historical and religious backgrounds of the scriptures, necessitated what was in effect a completely new work.

He died on 2 October 1994, aged 86. One of the most distinguished New Testament scholars of his generation, as well as being a Church of Scotland minister, Matthew Black was a past President of both the Society for Old Testament Studies and its New Testament counterpart, Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, an unusual distinction.

In 1938, Black married Ethel M Hall, daughter of Lt-Comdr A H Hall, Royal Indian Navy.

Notable publications:

The Scrolls and Christian Origins, ( 1961)

Peake's Commentary on the Bible, revised edition, (General and New Testament editor), ( 1962)

Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts, ( 1967)

The Scrolls and Christianity, ( 1968)

Commentary on Romans, ( 1973)

1930: MA (first class hons) Classics, University of Glasgow

1931: Second class hons Mental Philosophy, University of Glasgow

1934: BD degree with distinction in Old Testament studies

1939-1942: Lecturer in Hebrew and Biblical Criticism, University of Aberdeen

1942-1947: Minister of Dunbarney, Perthshire, Scotland

1944: DLitt

1947-1952: Lecturer in New Testament Language and Literature, Leeds University

1952-1954: Professor of Biblical Criticism, Edinburgh University

1954: Honorary DD, University of Glasgow

1954-1977: Editor, New Testament Studies

1954-1978: Professor of Biblical Criticism and Principal of St Mary's College, University of St Andrews

1955: Fellow of the British Academy

1960: Honorary DTheol. Munster

1963-1967: Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, St Mary's College, University of St Andrews

1968: President, Society for Old Testament Study

1970-1971: President, Society for New Testament Study

1977: Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

1980: Honorary LLD, St Andrews University

List of sources for the biographical information:

, The Times and Sunday Times Compact Disk Edition Backfile: Obituaries, ( http://www.lib.gla.ac.uk/Resources/Newspapers/index.shtmlTimes Newspapers Limited, 1994)

, Who's Who 1897-1996, ( http://www.lib.gla.ac.uk/Resources/Databases/w.shtmlA & C Black (Publishers) Ltd, 1996)

Authority record created according to the National Council on ArchivesRules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names (NCA Rules)1997 and International Council on Archives: Ad Hoc Committee on Descriptive StandardsInternational Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families (ISAAR)CPF1995.

Personal name authority record compiled for the GASHE project by John O'Brien, Glasgow University Archive Services, 13 August 2002