Bruce K. Waltke (born August 30, 1930) is an American
Reformed
Reform is beneficial change.
Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to:
Media
* ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang
* Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group
* ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine
Places
* Reform, Al ...
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
professor of
Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
. He has held professorships in the Old Testament at
Dallas Theological Seminary
Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) is an evangelical theological seminary in Dallas, Texas. It is known for popularizing the theological system of dispensationalism. DTS has campuses in Dallas, Houston, and Washington, D.C., as well as extension ...
,
Regent College
Regent College is an interdenominational evangelical Christian College of Christian studies, and an affiliated college of the University of British Columbia, located next to the university's campus in the University Endowment Lands west of Va ...
in
Vancouver
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
,
Westminster Theological Seminary
Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian theology, theological seminary in the Reformed theology, Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Prince ...
in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Reformed Theological Seminary
Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) is a theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition with campuses in multiple locations in the United States. Founded by conservatives in the Southern Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Churc ...
in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
to parents in the
Mennonite Brethren
The Mennonite Brethren Church is an evangelical Mennonite Anabaptist movement with Wiktionary:congregation, congregations.
History
The conference was established among Plautdietsch language, Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites in 1860. Durin ...
Houghton College
Houghton University is a Private university, private Christian liberal arts college in Houghton, New York, United States. Houghton was founded in 1883 by Willard J. Houghton and is affiliated with the Wesleyan Church.Th.M. and Th.D. (Greek and New Testament) from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1956 and 1958, respectively, and a Ph.D. (Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Literature) from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1965. His first dissertation was titled "The Theological Significations of ''ʼanti'' and ''ʻuper'' in the New Testament",. and his second, "Prolegomena to the Samaritan Pentateuch". Additionally, Waltke has been awarded an honorary D.Litt. from Houghton College.
His teaching career as a professor of Old Testament spanned Dallas Theological Seminary (1958–1976), Regent College (1976–1985; 1991–1995), Westminster Theological Seminary (1986–1990), Reformed Theological Seminary (1990–2010), and Knox Theological Seminary (2011–).
Waltke served as president of the
Evangelical Theological Society
The Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) is a professional society of Biblical scholars, educators, pastors, and students "devoted to the inerrancy and inspiration of the Scriptures and the gospel of Jesus Christ" and "dedicated to the oral ex ...
in 1975. He was on the translation committee for the
New American Standard Bible
The New American Standard Bible (NASB, also simply NAS for "New American Standard") is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Published by the Lockman Foundation, the complete NASB was released in 1971. New revisions were publis ...
(NASB), and has been on the Committee for Bible Translation (CBT), responsible for the
New International Version
The New International Version (NIV) is a translation of the Bible into contemporary English. Published by Biblica, the complete NIV was released on October 27, 1978, with a minor revision in 1984 and a major revision in 2011. The NIV relies ...
(NIV), since its inception in 1974. He is the only current member of the CBT who was on the original committee for the NIV.
Waltke's books include ''Intermediate Hebrew Grammar'', ''Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax'', ''Finding the Will of God: A Pagan Notion?'' (Eerdmans, 2016; ), ''Creation and Chaos'', and commentaries on ''Proverbs'' (New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols.), ''Micah'' (Tyndale Commentary Series), and with C. J. Fredricks ''Genesis'' (Zondervan 2001, ), which was a winner of the 2002
Gold Medallion Book Award
The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit trade association whose member companies are involved in the publishing and distribution of Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres ...
. He was co-editor for the ''Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament'', and he was the Old Testament editor for the ''Expositor's Bible Commentary'' series, the '' New Geneva Study Bible'', and the ''Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible''. He wrote ''An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach'', which received an ECPA Christian Book Award in 2008.
Waltke has travelled widely as a Bible expositor, as an area supervisor for excavations at
Gezer
Gezer, or Tel Gezer (), in – Tell Jezar or Tell el-Jezari is an archaeological site in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains at the border of the Shfela region roughly midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It is now an List of national parks ...
,
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, and as the director of field study trips to the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
and the Classical world. He is married and has three grown children.
A ''
Festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
'', ''The Way of Wisdom: Essays in Honor of Bruce K. Waltke'', (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000; ) was edited by J. I. Packer and Sven K. Soderlund.
In April 2010, news reports emerged alleging that Waltke was asked to resign his professorship at the Reformed Theological Seminary because he advocated that
evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
and
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
were compatible in a video on the
Biologos Foundation
The BioLogos Foundation is a Christian advocacy group that supports the view that God created the world using evolution of different species as the mechanism. It was established by Francis Collins in 2007 after receiving letters and emails from ...
's website. However, the RTS chancellor, Ric Cannada, later stated that this was not the case and that Waltke had submitted his resignation without solicitation. Waltke himself clarified things: "Ric's acceptance of my resignation has only added to the emotional turmoil; I have received letters from many quarters condemning RTS for his action. In fact, I was asked to be interviewed about my resignation on ABC News with
Diane Sawyer
Lila Diane Sawyer (; born December 22, 1945) is an American television broadcast journalist known for anchoring major programs on two networks including ''ABC World News Tonight'', ''Good Morning America'', ''20/20 (U.S. TV series), 20/20'', and ...
! Of course, I refused because I am certain it would have been spun to reflect negatively on RTS and the church. I find no fault with the RTS administration; in fact, I think they did the right thing."
Waltke now serves with the clergy at an ACNA Anglican parish in Washington state.
Works
Thesis
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Books
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* - in 2 volumes
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* - Waltke served as OT editor.
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* - retitling of the New Geneva Study Bible.
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