Gordon J. Wenham (; 21 May 1943 – 13 May 2025) was a Reformed British

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 ...

scholar and writer. He authored several books about the Bible. Tremper Longman called him "one of the finest

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 ...

commentators today."

Early life and education

Wenham read theology at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, graduating in 1965 with distinction, and completed his PhD on

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

in 1970. He was awarded several scholarships in connection with Old Testament studies and studied in Germany, the US, and Israel. He was the son of John Wenham and the brother of

David Wenham David Wenham (born 21 September 1965) is an Australian actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre. He is known for his roles as Faramir in The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Friar Carl in ' ...

. While at Cambridge, he was active in the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union. He first met his wife Lynne when she was a student at Cambridge, 1966–1969.

Career

Gordon studied theology at Cambridge University, and went on to do Old Testament research at King's College London. He spent time at Harvard University and in Jerusalem at the École Biblique and the Hebrew University. He taught Old Testament in the Department of Semitic Studies of Queen's University in Belfast before moving to Cheltenham. He held teaching positions or served as visiting lecturer at a range of institutions around the world. He worked at the University of Gloucestershire from 1987 (or earlier). From 1995 to 2005, Wenham was Senior Professor of Old Testament at the

University of Gloucestershire The University of Gloucestershire is a public university based in Gloucestershire, England. It is located over five campuses, three in Cheltenham and two in Gloucester. The university is the successor of a large number of merged, name-changed ...

. He then moved to

Trinity College, Bristol Trinity College, Bristol is an Evangelicalism, evangelical Anglican theological college located in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, England. It offers a range of full-time and part-time taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses which are validated by ...

. Wenham died on 13 May 2025, at the age of 81.Gordon J. Wenham (1943–2025)
/ref>

Works

Wenham wrote a large number of articles and several books, including commentaries on Genesis, Leviticus, and

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

, and later a study of Old Testament narrative ethics, ''Story as

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

'' (T & T Clark, 2000), and ''Exploring the Old Testament: the

Pentateuch The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

'' (SPCK: 2003).

References

1943 births 2025 deaths 20th-century British male writers 20th-century British non-fiction writers 20th-century British theologians 20th-century evangelicals 21st-century British male writers 21st-century British non-fiction writers 21st-century British Christian theologians 21st-century evangelicals Academics of the University of Gloucestershire British Evangelical writers British male non-fiction writers British religious writers Evangelical theologians Old Testament scholars Staff of Trinity College, Bristol {{UK-academic-stub