Lincoln Hurst
Encyclopedia
Lincoln Douglas Hurst (known also as Lincoln Hurst, L. D. Hurst, or Lincoln D. Hurst), B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

, M.Div., Th.M., D.Phil., was an American scholar of the Bible, religious history, and film. He was Emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...

 Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 at the University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...

 (1983-2006), and Adjunct Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary is an accredited Christian educational institute with its main campus in Pasadena, California and several satellite campuses in the western United States...

, Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

 (1987-2008).

Life and career

Born in Chicago and raised in Arlington Heights, Illinois
Arlington Heights, Illinois
Arlington Heights is a village in Cook and Lake counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about 25 miles northwest of the city's downtown. The population was 75,101 at the 2010 census....

, Hurst graduated from Arlington High School, and later received the Bachelor
of Arts degree in History from Trinity College (now Trinity International University
Trinity International University
Trinity International University is an evangelical Christian institution of higher education headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois. It comprises an undergraduate college, a graduate school, a theological seminary , and a law school--together with nearly 3,000 students...

), Deerfield, Illinois
Deerfield, Illinois
Deerfield is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States and is located approximately 25 miles north of Chicago, Illinois. A portion of the village is in Cook County, Illinois, United States...

 (1969). He was then granted
the Master of Divinity
Master of Divinity
In the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America...

 (1973) and Master of Theology
Master of Theology
A Master of Theology is an advanced theological research degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries.-North America:In North America, the Master of Theology is considered by the Association of Theological Schools to be the minimum educational credential for teaching...

 (1976) degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...

 (where he worked under the late Bruce M. Metzger) and
the Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 (1982) degree from Oxford University (Mansfield College), England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, where he worked under the late G. B. Caird
G. B. Caird
George Bradford Caird , D.Phil., D.D., FBA, was a British churchman, theologian, humanitarian, and biblical scholar...

. Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright also did his doctoral work under Caird, and three years after Caird's death Hurst and Wright co-edited a volume in his memory. Hurst also acted as Caird's family-appointed literary executor, insofar as some of Caird's work was left hanging in mid-air when he died. Before taking up a post at the University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...

 in 1983, he was an Instructor at Bloomfield
College, New Jersey (1973–74), Lecturer (1979–80) and Junior Dean (1980–81) at Mansfield College, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, and Visiting Fellow at Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...

 (Fall, 1982). Among guest lectureships, he has been the Kermit Zarley
Kermit Zarley
Kermit Millard Zarley, Jr. is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. He is also an author of several books.-Biography:...

 Lecturer at North Park University
North Park University
North Park University is a four-year university located at 3225 W. Foster Avenue on the north side of Chicago, Illinois in the North Park neighborhood. It was founded in 1891 by the Evangelical Covenant Church and shares its campus with the denomination's only seminary...

, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 (2004). He was a life-long proponent of Animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...

. Committed to preserving the memories of G. B. Caird
G. B. Caird
George Bradford Caird , D.Phil., D.D., FBA, was a British churchman, theologian, humanitarian, and biblical scholar...

 and Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...

, Hurst spent the final weeks of his life writing about the historic achievements of both men. He died suddenly from a heart attack in November 2008.

Biblical studies

Having written extensively on the Epistle to the Hebrews
Epistle to the Hebrews
The Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the books in the New Testament. Its author is not known.The primary purpose of the Letter to the Hebrews is to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. The central thought of the entire Epistle is the doctrine of the Person of Christ and his...

, Hurst's work has also focused on a variety of other topics, including ethics in religion
Ethics in religion
Most religions have an ethical component, often derived from purported supernatural revelation or guidance. "For many people, ethics is not only tied up with religion, but is completely settled by it...

, the Aramaic language
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...

 of the Gospels and Acts, the Dead Sea scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...

, the development of early Christian thought about Jesus, New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

, and the relationship of religion and film. His work has shown a maverick tendency, with a willingness to take up unpopular positions that go against the mainstream. His discussion of Hebrews (Hurst 1990) accordingly is unconcerned about the identity of the unknown author - a common preoccupation - but is rather directed at uncovering the particular religious milieu out of which he or she came. He is insistent that the author was not a disciple of either Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...

 or Philo
Philo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....

, or that he was a former member of the Qumran
Qumran
Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank. It is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalia...

 community - prevailing views for much of the twentieth century. The writer instead was a mainstream first century Christian who was heavily influenced by Paul the Apostle and the Jewish Apocalyptic tradition. He also maintains, against virtually all scholars and commentators, that the first chapter of Hebrews is designed to illustrate not the deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....

 of Christ, but his perfect humanity
Human condition
The human condition encompasses the experiences of being human in a social, cultural, and personal context. It can be described as the irreducible part of humanity that is inherent and not connected to gender, race, class, etc. — a search for purpose, sense of curiosity, the inevitability of...

. The first-century writer wishes his readers to know that in Jesus God has restored the human race to its proper predestined place "above the angels" (Psalm 8:4-6; Hurst 1987). His interest in the question of the Historical Jesus
Historical Jesus
The term historical Jesus refers to scholarly reconstructions of the 1st-century figure Jesus of Nazareth. These reconstructions are based upon historical methods including critical analysis of gospel texts as the primary source for his biography, along with consideration of the historical and...

 led him to question the linguistic techniques by which the majority of scholars have attempted to reconstruct Jesus's original Aramaic words beneath the later Greek gospels (Hurst 1986). The ethical dimensions of Jesus's teaching is another area into which he has delved; he considers Jesus's ethics to be indissolubly linked to Realized eschatology
Realized eschatology
Realized eschatology is a Christian eschatological theory popularized by C. H. Dodd that holds that the eschatological passages in the New Testament do not refer to the future, but instead refer to the ministry of Jesus and his lasting legacy...

 - the idea (associated with C. H. Dodd
C. H. Dodd
Charles Harold Dodd was a Welsh New Testament scholar and influential Protestant theologian.He is known for promoting "realized eschatology", the belief that Jesus' references to the kingdom of God meant a present reality rather than a future apocalypse.-Life:Dodd was born in Wrexham,...

) that for Jesus the Kingdom of God
Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...

 had already, in substantial form, arrived in the teaching, life, and death of Jesus (Hurst 1992). A central facet of Christian doctrine since the early centuries of the church has been the Pre-existence
Pre-existence
Pre-existence , beforelife, or pre-mortal existence refers to the belief that each individual human soul existed before conception, and at conception one of these pre-existent souls enters, or is placed by God, in the body...

 of Christ, and this is another area that has attracted his attention.

His claim (following G. B. Caird
G. B. Caird
George Bradford Caird , D.Phil., D.D., FBA, was a British churchman, theologian, humanitarian, and biblical scholar...

) that Paul the Apostle represents both the earliest and the highest thinking about Jesus in the New Testament (as opposed, for instance, to the Gospel of John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...

) runs counter to the view of the majority of scholars, and in this case he has had a notable disagreement with University of Durham theology Professor James Dunn
James Dunn
James Dunn, Jim Dunn or Jimmy Dunn may refer to:James Dunn:*James Dunn , an actor who performed in Bad Girl and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn*James Dunn , Australian Senator...

 (Hurst, 1986); he and Dunn have appeared in the same volume "discussing" the question (Martin and Dodd, 1998). Hurst's interest in the subject of New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

, sparked by his posthumous completion of G. B. Caird's work of that title, remains a continuing thrust of his research.
The messianism of the Dead Sea scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...

 has been one of the most widely discussed topics of the past sixty years in western religious circles; here it has been almost a dogma among scholars that the members of the Qumran
Qumran
Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank. It is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalia...

 community where idiosyncratic in that they expected not one, but two Messiahs. Hurst has stood against this idea, claiming that the members of the desert sect held to a thoroughly orthodox Jewish belief in one Messiah (Hurst 1999) (there is little, if any, evidence that his arguments in this regard have made even a negligible impact on the field). He is also concerned to explore the influence of Christianity in general, and the Bible in particular, on the films of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries - especially those that use the Bible symbolically in "modern" settings (Hurst 2004).

Film History

In addition to studies in religion and the Bible, Hurst has maintained a long interest in the history of film. For most of his life he has studied cinema as an avocation
Avocation
An avocation is an activity that one engages in as a hobby outside one's main occupation. There are many examples of people whose professions were the ways that they made their livings, but for whom their activities outside of their workplaces were their true passions in life...

, but in recent years it has taken up an increasing amount of his time. For approximately ten years he taught a popular course on film at the University of California, Davis, where his work tended to center on the relationship of film and music and
of film and religion. He is an accredited film historian, having appeared in many documentary
features (on DVD and television, including Britain (the BBC) and Australia (the ABC)) dealing with various aspects of some of the most significant films in American cinematic history. He has shown a special fondness for crime films, having publicly commented on three of what he considers (in addition to The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...

 trilogy) to be among the most historically crucial: Angels with Dirty Faces
Angels with Dirty Faces
Angels with Dirty Faces is a 1938 American gangster film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, the Dead End Kids and Humphrey Bogart, along with Ann Sheridan and George Bancroft...

, The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a 1939 crime thriller starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart and Gladys George. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh, and written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay and Robert Rossen based on the story "The World Moves On" by Mark Hellinger...

, and (most significantly) White Heat
White Heat
White Heat may refer to:In film:* White Heat , a British film directed by Thomas Bentley* White Heat , an American film* White Heat, a 1949 film starring James CagneyIn music:...

.
He is seen notably in features accompanying the Warner Brothers DVD releases of the classic 1941 release of "The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...

", and in various 'signature collection' DVDs, including those of Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....

 and Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...

, featuring on the commentaries alongside Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...

, Eric Lax
Eric Lax
Eric Lax is an American biographer and author of On Being Funny: Woody Allen and Comedy as well as several other books and articles.He graduated from Hobart College in 1966 with a major in English. Upon graduating he joined the Peace Corps serving in Chuuk and the Caroline Islands in the western...

, Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...

, Theresa Russell
Theresa Russell
Theresa Russell is an American actress.-Biography:Russell was born Theresa Paup in San Diego, California, the daughter of Carole Platt and Jerry Russell Paup. She attended Burbank High School, but did not graduate. She married English film director Nicolas Roeg , in 1982...

, among others. In 2005 he recorded the full-length audio commentary for the Warner Home Video DVD release of the 1939 classic James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...

 crime film
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...

, The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a 1939 crime thriller starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart and Gladys George. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh, and written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay and Robert Rossen based on the story "The World Moves On" by Mark Hellinger...

, included in "The Warner Gangsters Collection".

Books

  • (with N. T. Wright, ed.), The Glory of Christ in the New Testament: Studies in Christology in Memory of George Bradford Caird. Oxford: Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987.
  • The Epistle to the Hebrews: Its Background of Thought. SNTS Monograph Series No. 65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
  • New Testament Theology, by G. B. Caird, Completed and Edited by L. D. Hurst. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994 (Paperback 1995).
  • Swashbuckler at the Front: Errol Flynn, the Spanish Civil War, Religion, and Fascism. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press (forthcoming).

Articles

  • "How 'Platonic' are Hebrews viii.5 and ix.23ff.?" Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 34 (1983), pp. 156ff.
  • "Eschatology and 'Platonism' in the Epistle to the Hebrews," Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers 23, Chico (1984), pp. 41ff.
  • "Apollos, Hebrews and Corinth: Bishop Montefiore's Theory Examined," Scottish Journal of Theology 38 (1986), pp. 505ff.
  • "The Christology of Hebrews 1 and 2," in Hurst and Wright (eds.), The Glory of Christ in the New Testament (see above), pp. 151ff.
  • "The Ethics of Jesus," in Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall (eds.), Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1992, pp. 210ff.
  • "The Negelected Role of Semantics in the Search for the Aramaic Words of Jesus," Journal for the Study of the New Testament 28 (1986), pp. 63ff. (reprinted in Craig A. Evans and Stanley E. Porter [eds.], The Historical Jesus: A Sheffield Reader. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995, pp. 219ff.)
  • "New Testament Theological Analysis," Introducing New Testament Interpretation, ed. Scot McKnight (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1990), pp. 133-161.
  • "Priest, High Priest," in Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids (eds.), Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments. Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1997, pp. 963ff.
  • "Qumran," in Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids (eds.), Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments. Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1997, pp. 997ff.
  • "Re-Enter the Pre-Existent Christ in Philippians 2.5-11?" New Testament Studies 32 (1986), pp. 449ff. (reprinted, with new material, as "Christ, Adam, and Pre-Existence Revisited," in Ralph P. Martin and Brian Dodd (eds.), Where Christology Began. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster/John Knox, 1998), pp. 84ff.
  • "George Bradford Caird," A Historical Handbook of Major Biblical Interpreters, ed. Donald McKim (Downers Grove, Il: Intervarsity, 1998), 456-462.
  • "Did Qumran Expect Two Messiahs?" Bulletin of Biblical Research 9 (1999), pp. 157ff.
  • "Foreword," G. B. Caird, Principalities and Powers. Eugene, Or: Wipf and Stock, 2003, pp. 1–9.
  • "Six-Gun Savior: George Stevens' 'Shane' and Paul's Letter to the Romans," in Sheila E. McGinn (ed.), Celebrating Romans: Template for Pauline Theology. Essays in Honor of Robert Jewett. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004, pp. 240ff.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK