Professor Nigel Watson

I have heard today that Professor Emeritus Nigel Watson, one of my predecessors as Professor of New Testament in the Uniting Church Theological College (and before that at Ormond College) died peacefully on Sunday 23rd October, surrounded by his family.

Nigel served as Professor of New Testament for more than thirty years and was a dearly loved teacher and tutor. His formation as a scholar took place in New Zealand, Cambridge and Princeton (where he wrote his doctorate under W. D. Davies). He spent a year at Göttingen and I recently had several conversations about time he spent working with Jeremias and Käsemann while in Germany. He will be known to many for his two helpful commentaries on the Corinthian correspondence in the Epworth series (work for which generated a number of good scholarly articles) as well as a book entitled Striking Home on preaching from the New Testament. For many more, especially in Victoria, he will be know as the author of innumerable popular level works that were focussed on helping bible study groups engage with the biblical text in a responsible, critical and pastoral manner.

No dooubt more formal tributes will be paid in due course.

Comments

[Sandy Brodine]

Hi Sean,
I only met him once, but he was a lovely, gracious man. I have found many of his works helpful, both the scholarly and the bible study type ones. Sad news.
Blessings to you 4 in Italy.

Sandy