Gerald Henry Wilson (1945 – 11 November 2005) was an American Old Testament scholar. He served as professor of Old Testament and Biblical Hebrew at Azusa Pacific University. Wilson studied at

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...

Fuller Theological Seminary Fuller Theological Seminary is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian seminary in Pasadena, California, with regional campuses in the western United States. It is egalitarian in nature. Fuller consistently has a student body that compr ...

, and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. At Yale, he studied under

Brevard S. Childs Brevard Springs Childs (September 2, 1923 – June 23, 2007) was an American Old Testament scholar and Professor of Old Testament at Yale University from 1958 until 1999 (and Sterling Professor after 1992), who is considered one of the most influe ...

, and was influenced by him to adopt a canonical approach to the biblical text. Wilson taught at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

George Fox University George Fox University is a private Christian university in Newberg, Oregon. Founded as a school for Quakers in 1891, it is now the largest private university in Oregon with more than 4,000 students combined between its main campus in Newberg, it ...

, the

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

, and Western Evangelical Seminary before being appointed professor of Old Testament and Biblical Hebrew at Azusa Pacific University. Wilson was best known for his work on the Book of Psalms. He focused on the way the Psalter was divided into five books, and argued that the Psalms around the divisions – what he called the "seams" of the Psalter – concerned the

Davidic dynasty The Davidic line or House of David () refers to the lineage of the Israelite king David through texts in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and through the succeeding centuries. According to the Bible, David, of the Tribe of Judah, was the t ...

and

covenant Covenant may refer to: Religion * Covenant (religion), a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general ** Covenant (biblical), in the Hebrew Bible ** Covenant in Mormonism, a sacred agreement b ...

. Yee Von Koh suggests that Wilson was "the first to apply

canonical criticism Canonical criticism, sometimes called canon criticism or the canonical approach, is a way of interpreting the Bible that focuses on the text of the biblical canon itself as a finished product. Brevard Childs (1923-2007) popularised this approach, ...

to the study of the Psalter in the clearest and most comprehensive way," while Harry P. Nasuti says that Wilson's "groundbreaking work on the shape of the Psalter has been particularly influential for later scholarship on the subject." Wilson died of a heart attack on 11 November 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Gerald H. 1945 births 2005 deaths American biblical scholars Old Testament scholars Azusa Pacific University faculty Baylor University alumni Fuller Theological Seminary alumni Yale University alumni University of Georgia faculty George Fox University faculty University of Portland faculty