Leon Morris Centenary

2014 is the centenary anniversary celebration of Leon Morris’ birth on 15 March 1914.

Leon Morris is arguably Australia’s greatest biblical scholar, best known for his masterful works on the biblical teaching about the atonement [The Atonement: Its Meaning and Significance] as well as studies on The Gospel of John. Leon Morris was also Principal of Ridley College from 1964 to 1979. In honour of Leon Morris’s memory and his legacy in evangelical biblical scholarship, Ridley Melbourne is celebrating his centenary in several ways.

First, throughout the year a number of scholars will be featured on the Ridley Blog writing about their memories of Leon Morris and reflecting on the significance of his contribution to biblical studies. The first blog post is by the current Ridley principal Brian Rosner. He writes:

At a time when evangelical biblical scholarship was at best marginal, Leon Morris attained a worldwide reputation as a New Testament scholar of the first rank. With a Cambridge Ph.D., he was the first Australian to be elected to the international scholarly Society for New Testament Studies. He was one of the first Wardens of Tyndale House in Cambridge, was a translator of the NIV Bible, and gave visiting lectures in colleges around the world. Morris was a prolific author. He wrote more than 50 books, which have sold over 2 million copies. They include classic texts on The Cross Of Christ and many books about the New Testament. At Ridley and in Melbourne he was known for his careful attention to the biblical texts in the original languages and for his skillful communication in a variety of contexts. He combined firm convictions about the core truths of the Christian faith with a winsome humility.

Further blog posts will be coming from Don Carson, Tom Schreiner, Andreas Kostenberger, Graham Cole and others.

Second, Neil Bach [delivered] a special lecture at Ridley Melbourne on 24 March 2014, on ‘Leon Morris and the Cross of Christ’. The lecture [explored] how and why Leon Morris left the depth of a mining town to mine the depths of the cross of Christ, and more particularly, how he took on the theologians of his day to shape the thinking about the cross of Christ for 50 years. Neil Bach is a graduate of Ridley Melbourne and has been in parish ministry for 36 years. He currently chairs the Leon and Mildred Morris Foundation and has been writing the Biography Of Leon Morris since 2008. He has recently concluded his time as Vicar of Forest Hill to complete the biography.

Third, this year’s annual Leon Morris Lecture will be delivered at Ridley Melbourne on 26 May by Mariam Kamell of Regent College, Vancouver, on ‘Living The Kingdom Law’. This talk asks the question of what this command meant biblically, where it consistently appears amidst calls to holiness, and what it means practically, as we seek to live out Christ’s transforming love in our culture.