I learned today that my former professor and, more recently, colleague and friend, Harold Hoehner went home to be with the Lord yesterday, Feb 12, 2009. To read an offical tribute to Harold see Dallas Seminary's website.
This is sad news indeed to many. Those who knew Harold loved him. What's more, it is no exaggeration to say that during his over forty years of teaching at Dallas Seminary, he influenced countless pastors and scholars who are preaching and teaching around the world.
Three words come to mind when I think of Harold: integrity, longevity, and Kate Turabian. I had the privilege of meeting Harold while completing my Th.M. at Dallas Theological Seminary. Not only did I have him for a couple of NT courses, but he was the first reader of my Th.M. thesis. In that latter capacity, Harold was a stickler on the formating of footnotes, sparing most of his red ink for the text below the horizontal line on the page. I came to appreciate that excellence in the details of footnotes meant excellence everywhere. Excellence is perhaps Harold's most enduring legacy, at least academically.
It was also in large part because of Harold that I decided and was then accepted into Cambridge University. Harold was so respected in academic circles in both the UK and on the Continent that his recommendation was ostensibly your ticket into a program.
In the last days of my doctoral work in, I think, 2004 Harold was on sabbatical in Cambridge at Tyndale House and it was great to be around him in that context. I will always remember they Sunday meal he and Ginny treated Karla and I to at the Rat and Parrot Pub on Sunday.
When talking with Harold it was not uncommon to find the conversation turning to a discussion of the superiority of MAC over PC. Harold was a MAC enthusiast.
Harold we'll miss you, though I am confident that when you met Jesus yesterday he said, with a big smile on his face, "Well done Harold, my good and faithful servant; Enter into the joy of your master!" And, "You were right about the PC".
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