One of the greatest privileges in my life was the gift of God to me in allowing me to study at Dallas Theological Seminary. It has played (and continues to play) a significant role in shaping who I am as a leader and servant of Christ.
One of the amazing blessings of being able to attend DTS was the interaction with some of the most godly and super-smart people on planet earth, whose direct influence has had a marked impact on me as a person. One of those people was Dr. Harold Hoehner, Distinguished Professor of New Testament. Dr. Hoehner passed away on Feb 12.
My first introduction to Dr. Hoehner was in my first semester in NTI (the infamous New Testament Introduction, which always seemed a bit more than just an introduction!), and continued through the years because I majored in the NT area.
There are so many stories and memories that it’s hard to even pick one. He was just a great man, very humble, very smart, very godly, very opinionated, and yet gentle and caring. The plain truth is that there have been some not so nice people at Dallas Seminary or who have been the products of DTS, but I really believe that Dr. Hoehner was one of the finest examples of a Dallas man, in the very best sense. I am richer for having known him and learnt from him.
Interestingly, I went through seminary with his son, David, as one of my closest friends as we did “battle with evil” (the weekly NTI quizzes), and I had a long chat with Dr. Hoehner just this past US summer when I was over in Dallas. He had preached at Grace Bible Church (a very thought-provoking sermon out of Ephesians 5 on the roles of husbands and wives), and we had a good chat afterwards where he quizzed me (he was good at quizzes) on how I was going and what I was up to.
I am the proud owner of a copy of his magnum opus commentary on Ephesians, given to me as a gift by another dear friend at Dallas. I remember, even while I was a student back in the 90′s, Dr. Hoehner lamenting that the publisher was wanting him to make substantial cuts to the length of the text, which was a painful process to a man whose thoroughness is the stuff of legends, the ultimate “high C” personality.
I’m sure when I join him in eternity, he’ll be running exegesis classes somewhere (with quizzes) and those awful Aggie jokes… :-)