Larry Hurtado - 1943-2019

SAD NEWS: Social media is alight with notices of the death of Professor Larry Hurtado yesterday. Larry was Professor of New Testament Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh. He was a major figure in New Testament studies and is especially known for his work on the earliest Christology. Regular readers of PaleoJudaica will be familiar with his blog, which I have cited often. He continued to update it through his final illness. The last post was on 17 November. His Wikipedia entry is here.

I first met Larry in 1991 at the founding of the Divine Mediator Figures Group in the Society of Biblical Literature. We both continued to be active in the Group throughout its existence. He was a founding member of the Early High Christology Club (on which more here, here, and here - I still have the mug!). He moved to Scotland in 1996, the year after I came to St. Andrews. He was a keynote speaker at the International Conference on the Historical Origins of the Worship of Jesus, which was held at the Divinity School of the University of St. Andrews in 1998. He retired from the University of Edinburgh in 2011, but remained active in the field throughout his life.

Larry's contribution was vast. We are all very sad to have to say goodbye to him. Requiescat in pace.

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