Richard Ivan Pervo (May 11, 1942 – May 19, 2017) was an American

biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the can ...

, former Episcopal priest, and Fellow of the Westar Institute. He was best known for his works on the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

book of ''

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

''. In 2001, Pervo was convicted for possession of child sexual abuse material.

Biography

Pervo was born in

Lakewood, Ohio Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Established in 1889, it is one of Cleveland's historical streetcar suburbs and part of the Greater Cleveland, Cleveland metropolitan area. The popula ...

, the son of Ivan Pervo and Elizabeth Kline. He married Karen E. Moreland on April 2, 1967. Pervo received his undergraduate degree from Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1964. He received a Bachelor of Divinity at the Episcopal Divinity School of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and earned his Th.D. 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 1979. A revised version of his dissertation was published in 1987 as ''Profit with Delight: The Literary Genre of the Acts of the Apostles''. Pervo died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

on May 19, 2017.

Career

Pervo taught at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary (1975–1999) and as professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

(1999–2001). He served as an Episcopal priest until 2003. 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 ...

in recognition of his scholarship was published posthumously by Mohr Siebeck in late 2017.

Criminal conviction

In February 2001, Pervo was arrested after investigators found thousands of images of child pornography on his work computer at the

. In May he pleaded guilty to five counts of possession and one count of distribution of child pornography. He was sentenced to one year in a state workhouse and eight years

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

. He formally resigned from the University of Minnesota as of June 2001, having been suspended since his arrest. After serving his sentence he continued to publish theological works as an

independent scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a terminal ...

and Fellow of the Westar Institute, and was recognized as an authority on the canonical and non-canonical books of Acts.

Selected works

* ''Profit with Delight: The Literary Genre of the Acts of the Apostles'' (1987) * ''Luke's Story of Paul'' (1990) * ''Rethinking the Unity of Luke and Acts'' (with Mikael C. Parsons) (1993) *
Romancing an Oft-Neglected Stone: The Pastoral Epistles and The Epistolary Novel
(1994) ''Journal of the Higher Criticism,'' 1 (Fall 1994), 25–47. * ''Dating Acts: Between the Evangelists and the Apologists'' (2006) * ''Acts: A Commentary'' (2008) * ''The Mystery of Acts: Unravelling its Story'' (2008) * ''The Making of Paul: Constructions of the Apostle in Early Christianity'' (2010) * ''The Acts of Paul: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary'' (2014) * ''The Gospel of Luke'' (2014) * ''The Acts of John'' (2015) * ''The Pastorals and Polycarp'' (2016)

Notes

References

External links

Profile at Westar Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pervo, Richard 1942 births 2017 deaths Deaths from leukemia in the United States New Testament scholars American biblical scholars American people convicted of child pornography offenses Harvard Divinity School alumni Episcopal Divinity School alumni American members of the clergy convicted of crimes Members of the Jesus Seminar