The Word in This World
A Festival in Honor of Paul W. Meyer
April 13, 2004

Princeton Theological Seminary will celebrate the scholarship of Dr. Paul W. Meyer, Helen H. P. Manson Professor of New Testament Literature and Exegesis Emeritus, with a special tribute, The Word in This World: A Festival in Honor of Paul W. Meyer, on the afternoon and evening of April 13, 2004, on the seminary campus. The event, sponsored by the Department of Biblical Studies, will honor Professor Meyer's long and distinguished scholarly career, whose years before retirement (1978–89) were spent at Princeton. The special occasion for this tribute is the publication of Meyer's recent book, The Word in This World: Essays in New Testament Exegesis and Theology, edited by John T. Carroll (The New Testament Library; Westminster John Knox Press, 2004).

The day's events will be free and open to the public. A book-signing at 3:00 p.m. in the Mackay Campus Center will be followed by a formal recognition at 4:00 p.m. in the Mackay Center's Main Lounge. "An Evening with Paul Meyer and Friends" will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Room 6 of Stuart Hall.

Special guests for this occasion, all personal friends of Professor Meyer and internationally recognized scholars in their own right, will include John T. Carroll, Dean of the Theology Faculty and Harriet Robertson Fitts Memorial Professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education, Richmond, VA; Robert E. Dunham, Pastor, University Presbyterian Church, Chapel Hill, NC; Victor Paul Furnish, University Distinguished Professor of New Testament Emeritus, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX; Leander E. Keck, Emeritus Dean and Winkley Professor of Biblical Theology, Yale University Divinity School, New Haven, CT; J. Louis Martyn, Edward Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology Emeritus, Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY; and D. Moody Smith, George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament Interpretation Emeritus, Duke University Divinity School, Durham, NC.

The Word in This World contains sixteen essays on the theology of Paul, John, Matthew, and the New Testament in general, plus four sermons. Some of this material is previously unpublished. The book's centerpiece offers a sustained reading of Paul's Letter to the Romans. John Carroll, editor of the volume and a former student of Meyer, says "Every page offers elegant exegesis and theological interpretation of depth and power. The realization that I could play a small part in helping this master biblical interpreter convey his wisdom to a wider audience, and to a new generation of scholars, teachers, and students, afforded the greatest pleasure of all."

Louis Martyn, who introduces The Word in This World, says, "To read with care Meyer's Romans commentary and his essays is to be ushered metaphorically into . . . the hushed roomful of biblical scholars realistically expecting instruction from a colleague as learned as he is modest. Something similar is to be said of the sermons. We find ourselves imaginatively sitting in a chapel, listening attentively as scripture becomes gospel. To attend carefully to these chapters is, however, to risk having one's mind changed without one's permission. [For] the pieces in this volume come to us from the hand of a giant in biblical interpretation who is able to disturb us creatively."

Clifton Black, Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology and Chairman of the Department of Biblical Studies at Princeton Seminary, says, "For almost fifty years, Paul Meyer has been internationally hailed as a master exegete and a biblical theologian of unparalleled penetration and power. Much of my own education in biblical scholarship has been at the feet of him and of his students. It is a joy for me to be a part of this celebration of Professor Meyer's work, which will draw together at Princeton Seminary some of the most distinguished New Testament scholars of our time for the common purpose of honoring Paul Meyer."

For further information on the Princeton Seminary tribute to Paul Meyer, contact Michael T. Davis, The Department of Biblical Studies, (609) 497-7835.

The Seminary press release is here.