On hearing the news that John Webster (English theologian) has died

On the sad news of the death of John Webster. Here is a small section from Ivor Davidson's chapter entitled 'John' in the very recent festschrift written in Webster's honour. 

Quite a few moons ago, I had occasion to introduce a public lecture by John Webster. In the usual way, I took a quick look at the CV I had been sent to see what he had been up to since the last work of which I had known. As I ended up saying to the folk who gathered that evening, looking at John's resume can, in honest, by bit depressing: you are confronted with all the themes on which you suspect there is little point in trying to say much ever again ... It is not just the range [of John's work], but the sheer quality across that range - the depth of learning, the precision of thought, the distinctiveness of approach, the elegance of style - that makes John's work so exceptional.

For those who knows its author, all of it has been done by probably the most unassuming scholar they have ever met. John is firm in his convictions, no question, and crystal clear in presenting them. He is equally devoid of personal grandeur, and suspicious of quests for scholarly prestige which jeopardise the uniqueness of theology's vocation. His life's work has, in truth, been motivated by different ambitions than those that typically sway in the realms of academic culture. 'The matter to which Christian theology is commanded to attend,m and by which it is directed in all its operations, is the presence of the perfect God as it is announced in the gospel and confessed in the praises and testimonies of the communion of saints' (Confessing God). Most scholarly prose does not sound like that. For John, the idiom is standard issue, and deeply felt. As he sees it all theological work occurs in the history of grace, its mandate and possibilities determined solely by the miracle of divine generosity.

Ivor Davidson, 'John' in Theological Theology: Essays in Honour of John Webster (Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2015)

 

Comments

[Kim Fabricius]

My first encounter with Webster's work was in 2003 -- his Barth's Moral Theology, published 5 years before. Then in 2006-07, I went on a binge, devouring Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch (2003), Karl Barth (2000), Holiness (2003), Word and Church (2001), and Confessing God (2005). What a sublime experience! What a theological treasure chest!

Everything Ivor Davidson says resonates with me. I'd only add that Webster was one of those few theologians whose work invited you to pray before you began each reading session -- and to say the Grace after you'd finished it. Thank you, Andy, for gilding my sadness.

[Mark Thiessen Nation]

How very sad for the theological world; a very great loss. I was so looking forward to reading his commentary on Ephesians, as well as his multi-volume systematic theology. I have a dozen of Webster's books. I seem to have bought the first one in 1999, when I was living in London. I met him in Oxford around that time. I have repeatedly returned to several of his essays, as I find them continually relevant to my own work. In fact, yesterday I re-read his fine essay on Barth and Bonhoeffer's reading of Scripture. Webster was one of those rare theologians (in the company of Barth and Bonhoeffer) who was brilliant, widely read and whose writings lead the reader not infrequently into a fresh encounter with the Word of God. May his witness to the Word continue through his many wonderful writings.