Norman Charles Habel (born 1932) is an Australian

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. His ancestors are

Wends Wends is a historical name for Slavs who inhabited present-day northeast Germany. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people, tribes or groups depending on where and when it was used. In the modern day, communities identifying ...

from the forests of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. Habel was born near

Hamilton, Victoria Hamilton is a city in south-western Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, at the intersection of the Glenelg Highway and the Henty Highway. The Hamilton Highway connects it to Geelong. Hamilton is in the Australian House of Representatives, ...

, and was ordained in the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia The Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) is the major Lutheran denomination in Australia and New Zealand. It was created from a merger of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia in 1966 ...

in 1955, serving as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. He taught at

Concordia Seminary Concordia Seminary is a Lutheran seminary in Clayton, Missouri. The institution's primary mission is to train pastors, deaconesses, missionaries, chaplains, and church leaders for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). Founded in 1839, t ...

in St. Louis in the run up to the Seminex controversy, and then at Adelaide College of the Arts and Education, before becoming

Principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...

Kodaikanal International School Kodaikanal International School (KIS) is a co-educational independent boarding school, residential school offering education for grades K-12 (education), P-12. It is located on in Kodaikanal, Dindigul district, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, India. Kod ...

in South India. Habel then returned to South Australia, serving as professor at the

University of South Australia The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are ...

and then

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

. In 2003, Habel was awarded the

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

, for "service to education and the development of courses in religious studies in tertiary institutions in Australia, to reconciliation and social justice, and to the environment." In 2013, 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 ...

'' was published in his honour. ''Where the Wild Ox Roams: Biblical Essays in Honour of Norman C. Habel'' included contributions from

David J. A. Clines David John Alfred Clines (21 November 1938 – 8 December 2022) was a biblical scholar. He served as professor at the University of Sheffield. Education Clines was born in Sydney, Australia, and studied at the University of Sydney and St John ...

and

Ralph W. Klein Ralph Walter Klein (1936 – December 29, 2021) was an American Old Testament scholar. He was Christ Seminary-Seminex Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Klein was born in Springfield, Illinois, and ...

References

External links

* * https://audio.holdenvillage.org/contributor/habel-norman/ 1932 births Living people Australian biblical scholars Old Testament scholars People from Hamilton, Victoria Australian Lutheran clergy Academic staff of the University of South Australia Academic staff of the University of Adelaide Academic staff of Flinders University Members of the Order of Australia Heads of schools in India Lutheran biblical scholars {{Australia-academic-bio-stub