Richard Hays, An Editor's Tribute

Richard has been for decades one of my favorite scholars to read, but even more to greet and to chat with at SBL meetings. What his editor says below is what I knew of Richard, too. Richard and I often talked baseball.

By Carey Newman

On Friday, Jan. 3, Richard Hays succumbed to his decade-long battle with cancer. He was 76. Richard was a devoted husband to Judy Cheek Hays and devoted father to their son Chris and daughter Sarah — all of whom are themselves accomplished professionals. One of his greatest joys in life was being a grandfather. Richard Hays loved his family.

A quick glance at the highlights of Hays’ biographic details shows he walked a well-trod path. He was raised in Oklahoma City, educated at Yale and Emory, held posts in New Testament at Yale and Duke, earned tenure (at Yale), named to a chair (at Duke), and became a divinity school dean (at Duke).

Besides training ministers for service in the church, he mentored a bevy of doctoral students, three of whom who are now Duke faculty. He wrote a dozen academic books and scads of articles, lectured widely, became a respected member of his academic disciplines’ two major professional societies.

He was an ordained Methodist minister, coached Little League, loved baseball, was an avid Duke basketball fan. …

Hays was marked by an uncommon collection of virtues.

He was patient. In my 35 years of friendship with him, I never once saw him lose his temper. Not once. This does not mean Hays did not have decisive views or hold to them without wavering. He did. He was just not easily provoked.

He was kind and gentle. I have watched him many times field a question whose answer was already made obvious by what he had just said and, with kindness, he would answer it again. He was invariably soft-spoken, except at certain moments at Cameron Indoor.

He was quiet, even a bit shy, in public; but in private he was a well-practiced conversationalist, especially when prompted by a good Pinot Noir or some highland irrigation.

But above all, Richard Hays was thoughtful. He was thoughtful and careful, for he believed words matter much. His thoughtfulness and care with words led him to let his writing do much of his talking. And write he did. Slowly. Painfully slow — and I now speak as editor for three of his books. He was as patient in his scholarship as he was with others. He walked at his own pace, as his inner strength and respect of language allowed him not rush his writing. …

For someone who was quiet, shy, even reclusive, Hays had impact, an outsized impact at that. Most scholars dream of writing one field-changing book. Hays wrote not one, or even two, but four field-changing books. So remarkable was his impact that Christianity Today named his Moral Vison of the New Testament one of the 100 most important books religious books of the 20th century — and the irony was Moral Vision was not even his best book.

At this point, readers of BNG may be wondering what Athens has to do with Jerusalem, what Richard Hays, a Methodist minister, biblical critic and seminary dean has to do with Baptists, what Durham has to do with Waco. The answer is, “quite a lot,” as it turns out.

In the last 30 years, Baptists have flocked to Duke for their theological formation, ministerial training, and to earn their academic credentials. Baptists who are Duke Divinity School graduates are serving in many a Baptist church, and Baptists who are Duke Divinity School graduates are teaching in many a Baptist college or university. It might be fairly argued that Duke Divinity School has been the best Baptist seminary there is [because so many came to study with Hays].