Death of Donald Verseput

I was sorry to read today of the death of Donald Verseput on Monday. I never met him but have read several of his articles. This is the announcement from the Pioneer Press:

Donald Verseput was Bethel Seminary professor
BY CYNTHIA BOYD
Pioneer Press

Donald J. Verseput, a nationally known biblical scholar and New Testament professor at Bethel Seminary in Arden Hills, died Monday of cancer.

Seminary colleague Leland Eliason said Verseput, who lived in North Oaks, had "established himself as a superior New Testament scholar" and was elected to membership in the prestigious Studiorum Novi Testament Societas.

He was as passionate about his research as he was about teaching the next generation of preachers in the church, said Eliason, who is executive director and provost at Bethel Seminary.

Verseput, 51, had come to Bethel in 1998, receiving the Faculty Excellence Award in 1999-2000. He wrote numerous essays and articles and his work appeared in publications including New Testament Studies, Novum Testamentum, Journal of Biblical Literature and Catholic Biblical Quarterly.

A graduate of Wheaton (Ill.) College and Dallas (Texas) Theological Seminary, he went on to Basel, Switzerland, to complete an advanced degree. He also taught theology in Germany, South Africa, Deerfield, Ill., and Pasadena, Calif.

Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Holcomb-Henry-Boom Funeral Home at 515 W. Highway 96 in Shoreview. Funeral services will be held at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Benson Great Hall, on the Bethel College & Seminary Campus, with visitation before the service at 4 p.m.

He is survived by wife Laura, daughter Elisabeth, 18, and son, Timothy, 15.