Tag Archives: Abilene Christian University

Remembering Dr. Neil Lightfoot

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Photo from ACU Today

There were 3 men on the committee for the oral exams I had to pass to obtain my master’s degree in Bible from Abilene Christian University. I was allowed to select them and chose the three men with whom I had done the bulk of my classes: Tom Olbricht, John Willis and Neil Lightfoot. Dr. Lightfoot passed away on Monday.

I first had Dr. Lightfoot as an undergraduate, learning the skills of exegesis. In graduate school, I was able to take Dr. Lightfoot’s famous Gospel of John class and an advanced exegetical course. I didn’t get to take his class on Hebrews, which was also quite well spoken of.

Dr. Lightfoot was the epitome of a scholar. He once told of us of his favorite Christmas holiday, when he had read all of the back issues of Biblical Archaeology Review. Yet he also spoke to us of his love for the Dallas Cowboys, reminding us that he was more than just a student of the Bible.

Dr. Lightfoot helped me learn that wordiness does not equal godliness; that is, he was a professor who wasn’t impressed by the length of your paper but by what you said in it. Many of my friends were outraged when I got a good grade on the 65 research questions over the Gospel of John even though I only turned in 42 pages. I had learned that Dr. Lightfoot wanted you to say what needed to be said and to stop at that. I’ve always tended to be a concise writer and speaker, but I think it was Dr. Lightfoot that helped confirm to me that that was more than all right.

His book on How We Got The Bible has sold over a million copies. He also wrote very popular books about the parables. He told us that when his first book on the parables begin to sell well, the publisher offered him a large advance to bring out a second book within a year. Lightfoot turned it down, saying that he couldn’t do the quality work he wanted to do in that short of time.

Dr. Lightfoot touched the lives of many Christian men and women around the world. I’m proud to have known him.

There is an excellent tribute to Dr. Lightfoot on the blog of the ACU Today magazine.

Passing the torch: College years

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It’s taken me a while to get back to this meme that John Dobbs started. It would be hard to mention all of the college professors that had an influence on me, but here are a few of the principal ones:

John Willis: Dr. Willis taught me to appreciate the Old Testament. I don’t remember ever being taught to consciously look down on the Old Testament, but I definitely considered myself a New Testament Christian. I learned that Paul was right when he said that the Old Testament can make us “wise unto salvation.”

Tom Olbricht: Dr. Olbricht had a radical effect on the way I view Scripture. I learned that Scripture isn’t flat, that certain things are presented as being more important than others. Dr. Olbricht’s methods of identifying those principal themes have greatly affected how I read and understand the Bible.

Carley Dodd: Dr. Dodd taught me much about communication, both intercultural and interpersonal communication. I learned things in his classes that I have applied both personally and professionally. In addition, Dr. Dodd offered me personal friendship beyond the normal student-professor relationship.

Gaston Tarbet: Along with Les Bennett, Gaston introduced me to missions, both in the classroom and through the Mission Outreach group. It was Gaston that first encouraged me to consider being a missionary apprentice.

There are many more that could be mentioned, but these are the principal ones that stand out in my mind.

{photo by Solipsist}