Noted Bible scholar visits Chch

Press, 17 June 1982, Page 10

Noted Bible scholar visits Chch

A world authority on the New Testament, Professor G. B. Caird, of Britain, is visiting Christchurch for a week. The visit is part of a sixweek speaking tour of New Zealand which began in Dunedin and will finish in Auckland.

Professor Caird’s stay in Christchurch is considerably more relaxing than the two weeks that he spent in Dunedin, where he was persuaded to give 14 lectures in 10 days at Knox College to fill a gap left by the retirement of a lecturer.

He has a comparatively light work-load in Christchurch. with seven engagements in four days.

Professor Caird’s list of achievements is impressive: a Fellow of the British Academy, he has been a dean at Oxford University since 1977,

was a member of the panel for the New English Bible, and won the Collins Biennial Religious Book Award for his most recent publication, “The Language and. Imagery of the Bible.’’ which was printed in 1980. Asked why he selected the New Testament as a field of study. Professor Caird said that his interest had developed out of an early education in the Greek classics.

"I started reading them when I was 12." His choice was also influenced by religious commitment (he is a minister of the United Reform Church), and by the fact that there was a shortage of New Testament scholars at the time he had

to specialise. The revival of interest among young people had increased the size of his classes, he said, but the majority of his students were still destined for the ministry. “Britain is still very largely a secular country.” The level of religious commitment in Dunedin was much closer to the world of his youth, he said. “I expect it is due to the Scottish influence.” Professor Caird was critical of the fundamentalists’ insistence that the Bible was the Word of God, and of their use of it to prove their point. They often misinterpreted its meaning by wrenching parts out of context. “I dislike' the arrogance with which some assume that they are right and every-

body else is wrong.”,he said. It was important to attempt to understand what the writers of the Bible had meant to say, and what their message meant to the people for whom it was written, he said. “An historical study is a vital part. of the correct religious interpretation.” Professor Caird has spent only three years of his ministry working in a parish, but they were eventful ones. He served in London during World War II and had to conduct services in a basement after his church was bombed.

"People are very religious in war time." he said.