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- Before I Forget
Who would ever imagine that an eighteen-year-old who began his career teaching thirty-two eight-year-olds in a state school in an insignificant city in the remote South Pacific would end up on the world stage as the writer of definitive technical volumes in the field of biblical studies and as the only scholar from Australia/New Zealand on the Committee on Bible Translation that produced the New International Version? This autobiography is the account of the surprising stages that led Murray Harris from his humble beginnings to ending his teaching career as a professor emeritus at a leading United States theological institution. These stages are here attributed to the gracious guiding hand of a God who delights in providing serendipities while achieving his purposes. All this is recorded with humor and with many photos and illustrations.
Murray J. Harris is professor emeritus of New Testament Exegesis and Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Formerly he was the warden of Tyndale House, a biblical research library in Cambridge, and a faculty member of the Divinity School at the University of Cambridge. He has written commentaries on the Greek text of Colossians and Philemon, 2 Corinthians, and the Gospel of John. He was one of the translators of the New International Version.
“Even if I had never met Murray and Jennifer Harris, this autobiography would have been a pleasure to read. It admirably tells the story of a Kiwi whose growth in grace, scholarship, and adversity has made him a beloved teacher of the New Testament in several countries, and whose books are widely read around the world.”
—D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
“Murray Harris’s hugely refreshing, joyful, and honest autobiography of life’s experiences confirms the remarkable distinction of this evangelical biblical scholar internationally. . . . The richness of family life and his discoveries of ‘what pleasure can compete with seeing God at work’ are among the many gems that will enrich the reader abundantly.”
—Brian Heap, CBE FRS, formerly Master of St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge
“The life of Murray Harris, recounted so beautifully in this honest and humorous retrospective, truly speaks to the veracity of the Christian gospel. Engaging with Murray Harris changed my life; engaging with this book will challenge yours.”
—David McDowell, Australian National University Medical School, consultant neurosurgeon at Canberra Hospital, Australia
“A compelling read! It’s a testimony to how God takes ordinary people from humble beginnings, and through them does extraordinary things. . . . From classrooms to seminaries to commentaries and Bible translation, Murray’s story unfolds with candor, honesty, and humor. It’s the work of a self-effacing, remarkably effective, godly gentleman.”
—Brian Winslade, Senior Pastor, Hamilton Central Baptist Church, New Zealand
“A superb read of the rise of a young Kiwi man under the providential hand of God to the top of world Christian academia, ably supported by his beautiful wife Jennifer. Murray Harris writes in his precise style with humility, yet with wit and humor as he recalls with clarity his life story in topical segments as though they were but yesterday.”
—Stuart Bay, founding chairman of Christian Community Churches of New Zealand
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