Appreciations
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isaiah 55:8–9 ESV)
I have long thought that this text should be reviewed daily, especially by those who study Scripture professionally, like pastors and professors. Not only are God’s mind and manners nearly beyond our reach (“as the heavens are higher than the earth”), they are categorically different (“my thoughts are not your thoughts…”). This certainly does not mean that it is futile to try to understand God, his thoughts and his ways—after all, two verses earlier, we are commanded to seek the LORD (v. 6), and the two following verses connect heaven and earth in the sense that rain and snow fall from heaven to water the earth and produce nourishment (v. 10), which is actually God’s word given to accomplish God’s purpose (v. 11). Pastors and professors have the high privilege of devoting themselves professionally (and personally) to reaching for the heavens to know and understand God better.
However, there is an important reminder and warning here: as those who deal with Scripture professionally, we have a formidable task, and we should undertake it with considerable and constant humility. A common pitfall of such privileged people is pride in what one knows (1 Cor 8:1). If God’s mind and manners are so much beyond ours, the implication should be an appropriately healthy humility in the study of the Bible and theology.
W. Edward Glenny is an outstanding model of just this. Ed’s scholarly abilities are obvious to anyone who can read a resume. With two earned doctorates and a distinguished long list of publications, there is no doubt that he deserves a reputation as a world-class scholar. Not only this, Ed is also a pastor at heart. He is regularly speaking in churches and has provided interim pastoral ministry to many churches. Ed, thanks for your many years of faithful work in Scripture and the awesome contributions you have made to the academic realm, many local churches, and to the Church in general.
But Ed is to be congratulated not only for what he has done in his ministry of the Word, but also for how he has done it, specifically with much humility. This is not something that can be put in a resume (I guess if it could—“I am a person of great humility”—it would be self-contradictory!), but is obvious in the personal realm.
I am thankful to call Ed, not only a colleague, but also a friend. And I have always been impressed with Ed’s genuine modesty regarding his world-class professional accomplishments and his refreshing unpretentiousness around others. My wife, Marilyn, and I have had the great privilege of spending many “Taco Tuesdays” with Ed and his wife, Jackie. We have learned with great delight and laughter the hazards of sticking a knife in the jelly jar in Scotland, the adventure of spending a night in a compartment with a hole in the floor on the Orient Express, how to creatively make change for a ten-dollar bill, and so much more! But we have also seen Ed’s simple love for the Lord and longing to honor Him in all he does. Ed, thanks for your friendship and for being a reliable model of modesty in the pursuit of Majesty.
So, Ed, congratulations on your 70th birthday and on your many years of humble scholarship for the glory of God and the good of his people. As you will also (and much more importantly!) hear one day from our Lord, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Daryl Aaron
Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies
University of Northwestern–St. Paul
St. Paul, Minnesota
It is most appropriate to honor Ed Glenny, whose work in the Old Testament, Septuagint, 1 Peter, and hermeneutics has benefitted so many of us. However, it is the Christian character of Ed that stands out the most. Kind and thoughtful, his scholarship comes with a personality and gentle fairness that shows the soul and spirit that makes of an exemplary Christian leader. So I join in heartfelt congratulations for a career that has sought to honor God with scholarship and character that is a model for us all.
Darrell Bock
Executive Director of Cultural Engagement &
Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies
Dallas Theological Seminary
Dallas, Texas
My earliest significant acquaintance with Ed Glenny’s scholarship came in 1992 when I read his essay, “The Israelite Imagery in 1 Peter 2” in Dispensationalism, Israel, and the Church (Zondervan Publishing House). His essay was one of many in an anthology that signaled a welcomed paradigmatic shift that was taking place among biblical scholars in the tradition self-identified as Dispensationalism. Later that same year I accepted a faculty appointment at Northwestern College in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, where I learned that Ed’s wife, Jackie, was an adjunct professor. She joined the faculty the following year.
Though I first met Ed Glenny at both national and regional annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Society of Biblical Literature, I came to know him much better at various annual events at Northwestern College which provided occasions for professors and their spouses to socialize. At that time the Biblical & Theological Studies Department at Northwestern was dominated by senior professors who year by year were retiring. Because some members of the department had become well acquainted with Ed Glenny, some of us began to consider him as a potential faculty colleague. In 1999, we were delighted to have him join the B&TS faculty. He was a wonderful addition because of his skills in both the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New. He was already broadening his scholarship by working toward a second doctoral degree, a PhD in Classics at the University of Minnesota, which he completed in 2007.
Once Ed became my colleague our friendship deepened significantly. We have worked together professionally on a variety of committees, developing courses, strengthening our Ancient Classical Languages program, and engaging in many conversations about mutual interests in each other’s offices. Twice, when I was in dire straits, I appealed to Ed to bring clarity and harmony to a painful situation. He provided strong advocacy for me, and his voice prevailed on my behalf to bring about peace. As much as I admire Ed’s achievements in scholarship, what I appreciate even more is how seriously he submits to the Scriptures’ authority. Yes, he is an academic of the highest order, but more than this Ed is a Christian who cherishes the Bible as God’s Word and who teaches the Scriptures to students with a view to their transformation. He is a minister of the gospel who cares deeply about God’s people whether they are students who sit in his university classes or members of a local church who are seated in pews to hear God’s Word proclaimed.
My friendship with Ed is not confined to our contacts while on the campus of the University of Northwestern. My wife and I have been adopted into a group of several of Ed and Jackie’s friends from their days in college and at Central Seminary. It is over meals together, playing table games, watching college bowl games, and in conversations that I have come to know Ed even more than teaching on the same campus and in the same academic department affords.
Early on I came to realize that Ed shares my passion to approach the Scriptures as God’s Word and to teach the Bible as God’s saving message in the classroom and in the church. Because of this, in 2004, when I was asked to make a return trip to South India to minister to pastors, I was also asked if one of my colleagues would be willing to join us, I invited Ed who agreed to travel with us. For three weeks we traveled together, roomed together, and taught the Scriptures to pastors who had no opportunity and funds to attend either a Bible college or a seminary. Whether we gathered with Indian Christians in a mud hut, in a factory meeting room, or in a traditional church structure Ed was prepared to speak impromptu. Thus, one passage of Scripture tends to accompany my thoughts concerning Ed. It is the apostle Paul’s admonition to Timothy, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2).
Thank you, Ed, for being my friend, for being my advocate in times of great need, for your extraordinary scholarship that will be a wonderful legacy for generations to come, and for your patient and enduring service to our Lord Jesus Christ to multiple generations of students. It is my delight to call you my colleague, my friend, my co-laborer in teaching and proclaiming God’s good news as it is in Jesus. Happy Birthday, septuagenarian!
A Sonnet to A Septuagenarian
W. Edward Glenny on his 70th Birthday
Better is the chamber of the mournful
Say the Scriptures than the dwelling of mirth,
Where friends gather to celebrate another’s birth,
A man of seventy years, and joyful
That God has given life so plentiful
To a friend or father or spouse whose worth
Is not in years but in what God brought forth.
We laud your life of three score and ten years
Spent for others to gain no wealth or fame,
Yet richly lavished with Heaven’s kind love.
Blessed by God, we honor you with glad cheers
That strength may match your days, uphold your frame,
If God is pleased to grant all from above.
Ardel B. Caneday
Professor of New Testament & Greek
University of Northwestern–St. Paul
St. Paul, Minnesota
Dear Ed: it is a real joy for me to send this word of greeting and congratulation at a moment of grateful celebration. It’s a moment to gather up all the good and happy memories that I have of our meetings and exchanges over the years. I still savour those first encounters in Cambridge in 2005 when we sat, for something like four hours, over a glass of juice in the Graduate Centre, looking out over the river, and putting our heads together over knotty problems in the Septuagint of Amos, a text on which we were both working at the time. I was happy to be able to share with you some of the fruits of my previous study, at the same time picking up new insights from you. Since then, I have followed with admiration the way in which your work with the Septuagint has developed and I rejoice at the growing number of publications, especially your commentaries on the Minor Prophets, which are making a real contribution to this important area of biblical studies. Occasional meetings at international conferences, or whenever you’ve been able to spend some time back in Cambridge, have enabled a precious friendship to go on growing, enhanced often by the presence of your wife, Jackie. I look forward to further such moments and meanwhile send you my warmest wishes and blessings for many more years of fruitful and faithful service.
Jenny Dines
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, England
It is with great pleasure that I offer congratulations to Dr. Glenny on the occasion of his 70th birthday and of the presentation of this Festschrift. Ed has made and continues to make significant contributions to the field of biblical studies. I am especially grateful for his work in Septuagint studies and for his passion to further our knowledge of and appreciation for the Septuagint. It has been a delight for me to work alongside Ed in the furtherance of these goals.
Over the years, I have benefited greatly from Ed, both in my work and personally. While researching and writing my PhD on the Old Greek translation of the Minor Prophets, I found Ed’s work in the area to be clear, thoughtful, and helpful. During that time, I also had the opportunity to meet and befriend Ed. He was always happy to give of his time and dialogue about my research—something for which I continue to be grateful. Over the years, Ed has continued to be a dear brother, and I am thankful for his friendship.
Most significantly, Ed has shown himself, in word and deed, to be a man devoted to Jesus and to his family. He cares for the Church, and he is a man of virtue and high moral character. I have learned not only from his academic work but also from how he conducts himself and interacts with others.
Here’s to you! Happy Birthday, Ed, and congratulations!
Christopher J. Fresch
Lecturer in Biblical Languages & Old Testament
Bible College of South Australia
Adelaide, Australia
So you, a Septuagintalist, are entering on ‘septuagenarianism’! My warm congrats on achieving this symmetry; and if too many of your friends and colleagues have quipped along similar lines, I’d better start all over again. But first, since I’ve read the fast-forwarding ‘Love story of two Northwestern professors’, I had better get in sharp with my best wishes to Jackie as well.
Our meetings have been few and well spaced out, but precious, and we have found not only a shared interest in, and love of, the Septuagint, but also, and more significantly still, a shared commitment to the One to whom the Scriptures point, whether they are in Hebrew or Greek (or English). Since I am working these days on a heavy-duty commentary on Amos (in the ICC series), and the ancient versions are a part of my suit, there are many days when you are my companion for part of the way at least, as I turn to your volume in the Brill ‘Septuagint Commentary Series’, and to your monograph Finding Meaning in the Text (2009), for insight and help. The past decade or so has been a wonderfully productive period for you, with the volumes on Hosea and Micah also under your belt. These are a tremendous help—and I have the Micah volume in front of me as I write—in the understanding of the earliest Jewish translation of the Old Testament and the Bible of the early church, and my wish and prayer are that your hope, expressed in the preface to the Micah volume, will be fulfilled, and that you will be spared many days to put us further in your debt—and also to revisit Cambridge, which is not without its historic Septuagintal connections.
Hearty Congratulations!
Robert Gordon
Retired Regius Professor of Hebrew
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, England
It has been a privilege for me to work with Dr. Glenny in the Biblical and Theological Studies Department at the University of Northwestern for the past 20 years. When we both began teaching at the University in the fall of 1999, Dr. Glenny was already a seasoned professor and scholar while I was just beginning my first full-time appointment. As Dr. Glenny’s junior colleague throughout the years, I have had ample opportunity to observe him in action in a number of different settings. Of all the important lessons I have learned from him based on this observation, two that are especially relevant to life in the Christian academy stand out in my thinking. The first has to do with the spirit that should characterize the work of the faithful Christian scholar. While Dr. Glenny’s academic interests and areas of competence are wide ranging and his appetite for theological discussion at times seems insatiable, what distinguishes him as a Christian scholar—and what makes him most worthy of emulation—is his humility, which is palpable. In my estimation, Dr. Glenny is a scholar that academics like me should emulate not just because his academic accomplishments are considerable, but primarily because his scholarship is grounded in an eagerness to submit to the authority of Scripture, and it is motivated by a concern for the glory not of his own name, but of the name of the Lord of heaven and earth.
The second lesson I have learned from Dr. Glenny—one that I struggle to faithfully appropriate in my own life—is related to the deportment that should characterize a Christian scholar when working in an academic context, especially in an important department of a Christian university. Throughout the 20 years that I have known and interacted with Dr. Glenny, he has made obvious efforts to treat his colleagues the way he would like his colleagues to treat him. Not only has he demonstrated a sincere interest in their work and been solicitous of their opinions, but he has also interacted with them in a consistently gracious, even deferential fashion, especially when difficult or contentious matters were being discussed or when tensions that had erupted were being addressed. Without fail, Dr. Glenny has honored his colleagues by being quick to listen and slow to speak or pass judgment, and to the best of my knowledge, he has never spoken disparagingly about any member of the department, or about any other person for that matter, whether theological friend or foe. All in all, Dr. Glenny has proven himself to be not just a Christian gentleman of the first order, but a friend who treats his colleagues with honor and dignity, and this, I would suggest, is one of the primary reasons we all appreciate and respect him so much.
Paul Kjoss Helseth
Professor of Christian Thought
University of Northwestern–St. Paul
St. Paul, Minnesota
It was 1994 when I first became a full-time biblical studies professor at the University of Northwestern–St. Paul, a beloved institution where Dr. Jackie Glenny had started as a professor of communication studies just one year before me. Institutional service brought me to work on a committee with Jackie where I learned that her husband, Dr. W. Edward Glenny, was a biblical scholar who was then serving at nearby Central Seminary. I got to know Ed further through colleague connections and at conferences, and eventually we were able to attract Ed to a full-time teaching position on Northwestern’s faculty in 1999. Then as colleagues at the same institution, I greatly benefited to be in more regular contact with Ed and to share in the ministry of God’s Word with him.
In the professoriate, the universal triumvirate by which all faculty in all disciplines are measured is “scholarship, teaching, and service.” Some institutions may well emphasize one of these measures more than others; and most faculty will confess that they frequently drop at least one of these three more often than they would prefer. But anyone who knows Ed Glenny knows that he is an excellent juggler of these three aspects of professorial life.
For Ed as a biblical and theological scholar, I suspect that what tightens his grip on each of these three professorial roles is his love for Scripture as the Word of God. Because he loves the Bible as God’s Word for humanity, Ed has been a life-long learner in his scholarly pursuit to understand Scripture. His six educational degrees, including two doctorates, and his steady stream of scholarly presentations and publications say something about his ongoing interest in scholarship. Because he knows the Bible as God’s Word remains applicable to life today, Ed is a beloved teacher of students. As one recent student remarked, “Dr. Glenny makes complicated concepts understandable. He works with students to make sure no one gets far behind or lost. He will take extra steps to help struggling students. He is very funny and personable.” And beyond the regular service to his institution (like advising students, work on committees, etc.), because he recognizes the Bible as God’s Word for the church, Ed remains in service to various local church ministries as well. That’s right: in addition to teaching in the classroom, on weekends he can often be found preaching in local pulpits. Studying for himself and teaching for students is not sufficient for Ed; he must be preaching the Word of God to God’s people in the church.
Ed’s balance of professorial effectiveness is truly admirable: world-renowned scholarship (particularly in Septuagint and New Testament studies), praise-worthy teaching (for decades now, including 20 years at Northwestern!), and persistent service to his institution and to the local church (whew!). And anyone who knows Ed Glenny can’t speak about him for long without mentioning words like “humble,” “friendly,” “inviting,” and “encouraging.” That is the Ed I have known for almost 25 years, a man respected, admired, and loved by many.
Thanks, Ed, for your friendship, mentorship, and modeling, and for your tireless and multifarious service to our Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps as you enter your 71st year, you can pray with the writer of the 71st Psalm (here are vv. 14–18 ESV):
But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is past my knowledge.
With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.
O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
With admiration, love, and respect,
Douglas S. Huffman
Professor and Associate Dean of Biblical and Theological Studies
Talbot School of Theology at Biola University
La Mirada, California
I wish to join numerous others in congratulating Ed for achieving the age of seventy—not just because of the accumulated years but because it represents his extensive Christian commitment to teaching and scholarship at Northwestern. I first met Ed while he was a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota, noting at the time his interests in the Septuagint, and wanted to commend him (as well as commiserate) for tackling a second doctorate mid career. However, the time that I remember most with Ed, along with his wife, Jackie, was in a week-long trip that a number of us took to Turkey. Ed and I had an exciting time hunting out and lingering over numerous Greek inscriptions at the various cities that we visited. There were numerous incidental inscriptions on columns strewn around the various sites, but also the incredible nearly intact inscriptions lining the various walls of a city like Aphrodisias. Ed and I would try to read as many as quickly as we could, while the guide tried to hurry us along with the others to see another ruined temple. We clearly were in the minority of those wishing to ponder the inscriptions. The trip provided a great opportunity for my wife and me to get to know Ed and Jackie as discussion of inscriptions turned to other common interests we had in biblical studies, C. S. Lewis, and related topics. Thus, when the opportunity arose while editing the Brill Septuagint Commentary Series, I was overjoyed when Ed enthusiastically proposed to write a number of the volumes on the minor prophets. Ed’s scholarship is always careful and well-considered, and has provided a model for other contributors of how to write commentaries on relatively short books within the Greek Old Testament canon. When my niece decided to attend Northwestern, I made sure to tell her to look up Ed and Jackie when she was there. Knowing they were there, I was confident she would receive a great education at Northwestern—and she did. I wish Ed many more healthy and productive years at Northwestern, and I am thankful for his friendship over the years.
Stanley E. Porter
President and Dean
Professor of New Testament
Roy A. Hope Chair in Christian Worldview
McMaster Divinity College
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
I will never forget the day in 2015 that I saw Ed from a distance, walking towards me across Jesus Green in Cambridge, England. We were throwing my son’s second birthday party in a park. Ed was not only kind enough to take the time to walk across town and join us at such an event by himself (Jackie was traveling), but also to bring presents. The name W. Edward Glenny had been familiar to me for years by then through his work in Septuagint studies, which played no small part in drawing my own interest to that discipline. We had even spoken personally at a conference or two. But it wasn’t until I was working on a doctoral dissertation in Septuagint studies at the University of Cambridge that my wife and I had the good fortune of getting to know both Ed and Jackie during their joint sabbaticals there. Ever since then I have come to recognize that Ed embodies that rare combination of ardent scholarship, honest humility, and genuine concern for others. His careful thinking, pursuit of academic rigor, and generous spirit of collaboration have been and will continue to be a model towards which I aspire in my own vocation. Thank you, Ed, for your example, your encouragement, and your friendship. And a very happy birthday to you from the Ross family.
William A. Ross
Assistant Professor of Old Testament
Reformed Theological Seminary
Charlotte, North Carolina
Please accept my sincere congratulations on reaching this milestone birthday and on your career of faithful and fruitful service to God, the church, the academy, and to the institutions where you have taught as well as to the hundreds and hundreds of students to whom you have ministered.
Thank you, too, for demonstrating the character of Christ to those you touch, including us, your fellow teachers. It is an honor to work alongside you and a pleasure to interact with you. Your character confirms the validity of what you believe and say.
Boyd Seevers
Professor of Old Testament Studies
University of Northwestern–St. Paul
St. Paul, Minnesota
It is such a pleasure to congratulate W. Edward Glenny on his 70th birthday. As adviser of Ed’s *second* doctoral dissertation, I know as well as anyone what a careful, independent, and impactful scholar he is. His insights on Septuagintal translation have contributed more to Biblical Studies than his characteristic modesty might ever suggest. I also know Ed to be a devoted husband and father, a dedicated churchman, and an effective teacher. I am honored to join others in greeting Ed on his sterling career.
Melissa Harl Sellew
University of Minnesota
When we are inspired by excellence, it touches our hearts, lifts our souls, and allows us to feel the joy found in God’s creative perfection. A spark is lit within us to use our own giftedness and to know God more deeply through the process. Dr. Ed Glenny has been one of the individuals in our academic community at the University of Northwestern–St. Paul who has inspired us through his scholarly pursuit of learning.
Ed’s scholarship, teaching, and service as a faculty member are closely integrated and deeply grounded in his love for God. His high regard for Scripture and his desire to explore its depths are evidenced through his prolific publications on both Old and New Testament topics. Similarly, his desire to nurture a passion for Scripture in others is clearly seen in his roles of teacher and mentor. Investing in future generations is a hallmark of Ed’s legacy in his work as a faculty member and in his ministry to a variety of church communities. One return on that investment is seen in the many students represented in this publication who have been influenced by his scholarly work.
A life of scholarship is demanding of scholars and their families as it requires sacrifice and focus. This is especially true when both spouses are engaged in scholarly work in different fields. Therefore, this tribute would not be complete without expressing our deep appreciation to our faculty colleague, Dr. Jackie Glenny, for her support and encouragement of Ed as he engaged in research and writing. We know that the commitment to mutual support has been a driving force in Ed and Jackie’s academic pursuits.
Ed, it is with joy that we celebrate your ongoing scholarly work. Your contributions in scholarship, teaching, and service have inspired this learning community in ways you may not even recognize. Our understanding of Scripture has been deepened, our own scholarly endeavors encouraged, and our students launched to new heights of accomplished study. Your humble servant attitude will tend toward counting others “more worthy” of the recognition, but we know with certainty that our Lord has brought you into this community and blessed the work of your heart, mind, and soul in ways that have touched us deeply. Thank you for continuing to live out the command to “love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37 NIV).
May our Lord be glorified through the publication of this Festschrift, which honors a servant’s work well done and a community inspired to greater service.
Dr. Janet Sommers
Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs
University of Northwestern–St. Paul
Dr. Susan Johnson
Dean, College of Professional Studies
University of Northwestern–St. Paul
It is a joy to contribute to this volume of essays in honor of Dr. Ed Glenny. It was a privilege to serve as Dr. Glenny’s research assistant in 2009, when he was preparing the manuscript for his monograph, Finding Meaning in the Text: Translation Technique and Theology in the Septuagint of Amos. Dr. Glenny has been an encouragement and scholarly mentor figure to me on a number of occasions over the past ten years. He attended my first academic paper presentation at the regional SBL meeting in 2010, graciously fielded Septuagint questions during my PhD studies, and offered me publishing advice on several occasions. We also shared time together at the Tyndale House in Cambridge in 2013. Thank you, Dr. Glenny, for your friendship and your example of faithful biblical scholarship.
Brian J. Tabb
Managing Editor of Themelios
Academic Dean & Associate Professor of Biblical Studies
Bethlehem College & Seminary
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Ed Glenny’s vigilant, detailed scholarship is a thing of beauty. His commentaries on the Septuagint as found in Codex Vaticanus are truly innovative. But his work in the Petrine Epistles and the use of the Old Testament in the New has impacted me the most. Further, it has been my privilege of laboring with him on a doctoral dissertation committee. This has allowed me to see Ed’s scholarship in a way that few ever get to behold. I simply cannot begin to express my deep appreciation for his insights, his humility, his reverence in handling the Sacred Text, and his nurturing of a future scholar. Having witnessed these things firsthand, I have gotten a glimpse of the kind of mentor he must be.
Festschriften are written by colleagues and notable scholars. This one is no exception, but it has an additional feature that undergirds the whole thing: it is written entirely by the honoree’s former students. This bears witness to the man’s faithfulness to his calling as a professor of the Bible. I can think of no higher praise than this: Ed Glenny is the embodiment of 2 Timothy 2:2. The legacy he leaves behind in print will someday fade, but his legacy in the lives of his students will bear fruit for many generations. Thank you, Ed, for being a model mentor, and for running the race well.
Daniel B. Wallace
Senior Research Professor
New Testament Studies
Dallas Theological Seminary
