R.I. P. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (1915-2009)
I just learned of the passing of one of the giants in church history and historical theology, who also made a gigantic impact on theology through his translations of German works into English. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (1915-2009) passed away on 07 August 2009. Bromiley was born in Lancashire, England (U.K.) in 1915. He earned an M.A. at Cambridge University and a Ph.D., DLitt, and DD from Edinburgh University. Ordained a priest in the Church of England, Bromiley served as a Rector of St. Thomas’ Church, Edinburgh. In 1958, Bromiley was called to be Professor of Church History at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA–retiring from that post in 1987.
Bromiley wrote several volumes of theology, including a one-volume Historical Theology, but his largest impact on theology has to be his translations. Bromiley translated many of the volumes of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics from German, translated the 10 volumen Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (ed, Gerhard Kittel, etc.), translated all 3 volumes of Wolfhart Pannenberg’s Systematic Theology, as well as works by Helmut Thielicke, Jacques Ellul, and Ernst Kasemann. Most recently, Bromiley translated the 5 volume Encyclopedia of Christianity from the German, completing the 5th volume in 2007 at the age of 92!
Students and colleagues at Fuller Theological Seminary describe Bromiley as combining scholarship with a strong dedication to the Word of God.
Rest in peace, faithful pilgrim.
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Michael L. Westmoreland-White, Ph.D. I live in Louisville, KY USA with my wife, Kate, and our two wonderful daughters. My wife, Kate, is a Baptist minister who works at a Catholic charity (the Society of St. Vincent de Paul) to provide assisted housing to homeless people. Our daughters are Molly (’95) and Miriam (’99). I am a former soldier converted to gospel nonviolence and a once (and future?) academic theologian turned peace activist, author, and peace educator. Contact me at mlw-w@insightbb.com
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Levellers 
Michael, thank you for sharing this.
Dr. Bromiley was long retired when I arrived at Fuller, but I was able to take his Barth Seminar. The saying is that in his translation, he made Barth understandable — even to Germans.
My mentor, Dr. James Bradley, is the current holder of the Bromiley Chair at Fuller. So, I guess I’m kind of a spiritual heir of Geoffrey Bromiley.
R.I.P. Dr. Bromley. And Michael why don’t you read some of Edward Schillebeeckx work ? Try “I Am a Happy Theologian” and/or “Jesus in our Western Culture”…
Paul, I have wanted to make time to read Schillebeeckx. I know he’s an important scholar.
You will enjoy his books and his wisdom Michael…
While I have no doubt that the man was a brilliant person, enabling the Worterbuch, should not be remembered as a great thing: it has disembowed true Christianity.
I think he also did the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia–the newer one, that is.
Well, I obviously disagree, Elizabeth. No dictionary is perfect, and both TDNT and its evangelical rival, The Dictionary of New Testament Theology, encouraged over-reading of theological meanings in just isolated words, instead of phrases, sentences, paragraphs, etc. (See James Barr’s critique in The Semantics of Biblical Language.) But even all these years later TDNT remains a major resource that no pastor’s study should be without.
And, yes, I know that Gerhard Kittel, who edited the German edition of the TDNT, was a Nazi and an anti-semite. I am not Kittel fan, and I don’t think Bromiley was. But I’ve looked hard and not seen much evidence of anti-semitism in TDNT itself.