| |
Overview
Faculty
Majors
Courses
Conferences
Activities &
Opportunities
|
|
|
|
| Daniel I. Block
|
|
Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Old Testament
On faculty since 2005
Office: BGC 288
Phone: (630) 752-5272
e-mail: Daniel.Block@wheaton.edu
|
| Education |
|
|
|
D.Phil., 1982, Semitics: Classical Hebrew, School of Archaeology and Oriental Studies, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England.
Dissertation: The Foundations of National Identity: A Study in Ancient Northwest Semitic Perceptions
M.A. 1973 Old Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois
BA. 1969, History/German, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Foreign Studies in German and Geistesgeschichte, 1968-1968, Friedrich Alexander University, Erlangen, Germany
B.Ed. 1968 General Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Diploma in Biblical Studies 1965, Bethany Bible Institute, Hepburn, Saskatchewan
|
| | |
 |
|
Professional and Personal Interests
|
|
|
My interest in the Old Testament was sparked by the ministry of a pastor during my days as a university student. This man had left a seminary professorship in Old Testament in California to pastor our church of about 300 members in northern Saskatchewan . He was God's instrument inspiring me to devote my life to the study of the Scriptures for the glory of God and for the advance of biblical knowledge. For the past thirty years I have had the supreme delight of sharing with students the word of God, seeking to challenge them to fulfill in their own lives the motto of Wheaton College: "For Christ and His Kingdom." It has been a special joy to watch as students, who often take introductory courses in Old Testament only because they are required to do so by the curriculum, suddenly awaken to the fact that the Old Testament is understandable and that its message is both life-giving and relevant to for everyday life, even in the 21 st century.
The paradigm for my own research and ministry is set by Ezra, as described in Ezra 7:10: He committed himself to the study the Torah of Yahweh, to put it into practice, and to teach his revealed will in Israel. This means constantly asking serious questions of the Scriptures: What does the text say? Why does the text say it like that? What did the text mean to the original audience? What does the text have to say to me today? In order to answer these questions we need to understand both the worlds out of which the biblical texts arose and the worlds in which we moderns live.
Although I was nurtured in the faith in a Mennonite Brethren context, for the last four decades my wife Ellen and I have had the joy of fellowship and ministry in Evangelical Free, Plymouth Brethren, Baptist General Conference, Evangelical Covenant, and Southern Baptist congregations. We have learned that everywhere there are people eager to please God and serious about integrating their faith with their daily lives. We are honored now to have been invited to join the faculty of Wheaton College to train young people for this very purpose.
In addition to teaching in formal classroom situations, we have had the delight of preaching and teaching in many churches across the country and around the world. Week-end seminars on "Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship" or "Resurrecting the Old Testament" have been particularly satisfying. Ellen and I are also concerned about the broader world. In recent years I have lectured and preached in Russia , England , Denmark , China , and of course, my home country, Canada . When I need a break from my studies or the pressures of teaching, I visit my children and grandchildren in British Columbia and Washington State and do home improvement projects around the house. But nothing is more therapeutic than gardening, creating a miniature paradise in the little corner of the world in which we live. This too is an expression of worship and devotion to God.
| Courses
Taught |
|
|
• The Gospel of John
• Introduction to the Old Testament
• Old Testament Book Studies:
Genesis, Deuteronomy, Judges and Ruth,
..Job, the Wisdom Literature, Ezekiel, Amos
• Hebrew Grammar and Exegesis
• Old Testament Theology
• A Biblical Theology of Worship
• Homiletics
• Expository Preaching from the Old Testament
|
Membership in Professional Societies |
|
|
• Society of Biblical Literature
• Evangelical Theological Society
• Institute for Biblical Research (currently serving as President)
|
Research |
|
|
My areas of interest span most of the Old Testament. After spending fourteen years on Ezekiel and four on Judges and Ruth, for the past five years I have been absorbed by the Gospel according to Moses as set out for us in the book of Deuteronomy. In the meantime I have also been heavily involved in the production of the New Living Translation of the Bible. I am currently working on a manuscript, For the Glory of God: A Biblical Theology of Worship.
| Publications and Presentations |
|
|
The New Living Translation. Revised Edition (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004).
Senior
Translator with primary responsibility for the Pentateuch.
"Marriage and Family in Ancient Israel ." In Marriage and Family in the Biblical World. Ed. K. Campbell. Downers Grove : InterVarsity, 2003. Pp. 33-102.
"Divine Abandonment: Ezekiel’s Adaptation of an Ancient Near Eastern Motif," in Perspectives on Ezekiel : Theology and Anthropology, SBL Symposium Series 9, Margaret S. Odell and John T. Strong, eds. (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2000). Pp. 15-42.
The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology (revised edition; Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2000).
Judges, Ruth. New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1999).
The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 25-48. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1998.
The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 1-24. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997.
The New Living Translation. Chicago: Tyndale House Publishers, 1996.
General Reviewer with primary responsibility for the Pentateuch.
The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology (ETS Monograph Series 2; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1988.
In addition to these books and monographs, more than fifty essays have been published in scholarly journals.
More publications by Dr. Block
|
|
