He was Tampa’s own Indiana Jones.Requiescat in pace.
James Francis Strange never carried a bullwhip, saved damsels in distress or kept the Nazis from acquiring religious relics that could conquer the world.
But like the movie character, he was a biblical archaeologist who wore a dusty brown fedora, worked as a professor when not digging for artifacts, and even discovered an ancient sacred Jewish ark.
Dr. Strange — a religious studies professor at the University of South Florida since 1972 and a former dean of its College of Arts and Letters — died March 23 from complications of cancer. The native Texan was 80 and still teaching at USF.
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Also, still for Passover, The Ancient Near East Today has reprinted a 2014 essay by Professor Strange: Jesus’s Passover. The essay is about how Passover was celebrated at the time of Jesus. It does not address the question of whether Jesus' Last Supper was a Passover Seder. More on that here.
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