A great friend of the Biblical Archaeological Society (BAS), Dead Sea Scroll scholar Peter Flint passed away on November 3, 2016, at the age of 65. Peter was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on January 21, 1951, to Alwin and Edelweiss Flint. After graduate studies at the University of South Africa, Peter relocated to the United States to pursue doctoral studies in Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Notre Dame. His dissertation was titled The Dead Sea Psalms Scrolls and the Book of Psalms (1993) and was directed by Eugene Ulrich. Professor Ulrich himself said that this remains the most comprehensive and right-thinking study of the Psalter as illuminated by the Qumran scrolls.
After a two-year period as Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Southwestern College in Phoenix, Arizona (1993–1995), Peter moved to Trinity Western University (TWU) in Langley, British Columbia, Canada, in 1995 and continued as a much-beloved member of the TWU faculty until his death.
At TWU Peter played an integral role in founding the Master of Arts in Biblical Studies program in 1995. He also cofounded and directed the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute with me. In 2004 Peter was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Dead Sea Scroll Studies and Related Literature.
It is an understatement to say that Peter reveled in his career as a Dead Sea Scroll scholar. He was certainly the greatest “evangelist” for the discipline. BAS events were a fertile ground for Peter’s persuasive powers. Many participants were at least momentarily convinced that they should change careers and study the Dead Sea Scrolls with Peter. A good number actually did so. Thus Peter’s students are clearly what he himself would point to as his greatest legacy—all “reaching for the stars” in the footsteps of their mentor.
Peter’s contribution to research is no less important. He was a member of the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert editorial team—contributing to volumes 16, 22, 38 and, perhaps the pinnacle of the project, volume 32, Qumran Cave I.II The Isaiah Scrolls (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2010) with his doktorvater, Eugene Ulrich. The Isaiah volume was granted the award for the “Best Book Relating to the Hebrew Bible” for the years 2009–2010 by BAS.
Peter was also keen to ensure that the hard-won results of Biblical scholarship and Qumran studies did not remain in research papers and monographs. The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1999) in partnership with Martin Abegg and Eugene Ulrich, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2002) with James VanderKam, and his own The Dead Sea Scrolls (Nashville: Abingdon, 2013) attest to his passion for communicating the importance of the scrolls to the general public.
He will be sorely missed by us all.
A great friend of the Biblical Archaeological Society (BAS), Dead Sea Scroll scholar Peter Flint passed away on November 3, 2016, at the age of 65. Peter was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on January 21, 1951, to Alwin and Edelweiss Flint. After graduate studies at the University of South Africa, Peter relocated to the United States to pursue doctoral studies in Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Notre Dame. His dissertation was titled The Dead Sea Psalms Scrolls and the Book of Psalms (1993) and was directed by Eugene Ulrich. Professor Ulrich himself said […]
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