Charles Halton (among several others
) reports on the passing of Prof. Anderson. I thought I would share how I came to know of his work.
I was in my first year of teaching and I had assigned a final essay for my Hebrew Bible class. One students paper stood out because after the first paragraph the language changed markedly (the writing was much better and the content focused upon the second Temple period. Not the assignment. It was a pretty strong bet that the student had copied the whole thing from a text, but how do I figure out which source? Fortunately for me the student had said something like, “Biblical scholar Bernhard Anderson has pointed out the importance of the development of Judaism after the rebuilding of the Temple.” And then proceeded to not quote Anderson. I checked in our library, found Anderson’s Understanding the Old Testament and sure enough. The student had copied the first three pages of the last chapter.
Anderson’s work is excellent and will remain as a fitting legacy and memorial to this scholar. May light perpetual shine upon him.
