THOMAS FRANCIS McDANIEL, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Studies and Hebrew
Palmer Theological Seminary,
The Seminary of Eastern University,
Saint Davids, Pennsylvania
CURRICULUM VITA
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:
• Baltimore City public schools 1937-1948.
• University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, B.A. (Sociology), June, 1951.
• Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, B.D. Cum Laude, May, 1955.
• University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, M.A. (Near Eastern Studies), February, 1956. (Thesis: "The Tribal Participants of the Exodus and Conquest.")
• Yale University, Institute of Far Eastern Languages (Japanese Language Study), Spring Semester, 1956.
• Johns Hopkins University, Department of Near East Studies, Ph.D., May, 1966. (Dissertation: "A Philological Study of Lamentations."
• Post-Doctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Department of Near East Studies, 1976.
• International Christian University, Tokyo, Japanese Language Study, Summer, 1982.
HONORS:
• University of Richmond Honor Council, 1950-1951.
• University of Pennsylvania Scholarship, 1953 and 1954.
• Johns Hopkins University Fellowship, 1962-1965.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
• Student pastor of the Gwathmey Baptist Church, Ashland, Virginia, 1950-1951, during the senior year at the University of Richmond.
• Educational missionary of the Board of International Ministry of the American Baptist Churches, teaching Old Testament Studies at Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama, Japan, 1956-1961.
• Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hurlock, Maryland, 1961-1965 (a full-time pastorate while working in the Ph.D. program at Johns Hopkins University).
• Interim-pastor at the Grace Baptist Church, Baltimore, Maryland, 1966 (a part-time position while writing the doctoral dissertation).
• Educational missionary of the Board of International Ministry of the American Baptist Churches, serving in Japan as Associate Professor at Kanto Gakuin University, Yokohama, teaching courses in Christianity and Semitic languages, and a Visiting Lecturer in Semitic languages at the Union Theological Seminary, Tokyo, and the Graduate Theological Division of the Aoyama University, Tokyo, 1966-1969.
• Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Studies at The Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, 1969 to 2001 (tenured in 1974 and retired in 2001).
• Volunteer on an archaeological excavation at Tel Gezer, Israel, Summer, 1973.
• Adjunct Professor of Old Testament at Eastern College, St. Davids, PA, 1981-1982.
• Director of Eastern's School of Christian Ministry, a Saturday Certificate Program at The Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary: 1985-1986.
• Adjunct Professor, St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, Summer, 1987, teaching the Language of Medicine course.
• Director of Financial Aid Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1987.
• Affiliate Professor of Religion in the College of Arts and Sciences of Temple University, Sabbatical leave, 1988.
• Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program in Theological Studies and Ministry: 1988-1989.
• Visiting Lecturer at Temple University, Department of Religion, 1990-1991, teaching a course on "Philological Study of the Hebrew Scriptures."
• June 30, 2001, retirement from The Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary and change in status from Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Studies to Professor Emeritus. To view the pre-retirement interview, click HERE. To view my Seminary related correspondence (from the initial contacts in 1968 to the Letters of Appreciation upon my retirement) click HERE.
CHURCH AFFILIATION AND DENOMINATIONAL ACTIVITIES:
1943-1956: Member of the Temple Baptist Church, Baltimore, Md;
ordained there in 1955.
1956-1961: Member of the Kasumigaoka Baptist Church, Yokohama, Japan.
1961-1965: Pastor and member of the First Baptist Church, Hurlock, Maryland.
1965-1969: Member of the Calvary Baptist Church, Towson, Maryland.
1969-1980 Member of the Baptist Church of the Evangel, Narberth, Pennsylvania.
1980- Member of the Silverside Church, Wilmington, Delaware.
While in Japan, I served as book review editor of The Japan Christian Quarterly, 1960-1961, and wrote for the denominational papers of the Japan Baptist Union and the Japan Fellowship of American Baptist Missionaries, 1956-1961 and 1966-1969.
Since returning to the Philadelphia area in 1969, I served as the interim pastor of the Wyoming Avenue Baptist Church and the Mayfair Conwell Baptist Church, and have spoken hundreds of times in Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, Baptist, and Mennonite churches from New York to Virginia. Over the years I have served as the Bible study leader at the World Mission Conferences at Green Lake, Wisconsin (1977 and 1978) and numerous Pastors' Conferences, denominational meetings, and Annual Meetings of Baptist State Conventions in Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, D. C., and the American Baptist Churches of the South. I served as the Bible study leader at the American Baptist Biennial Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, June 16-19, 1987. Since a heart attack in January, 1989, speaking engagements have been curtailed to churches in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.
PAPERS AND PUBLICATIONS: (Most are available on this web site and can be viewed by clicking HERE.)
"Review of William F. Albright's History, Archaeology, and Christian Humanism, in Bible and Theology (Journal of the College of Theology, Kanto Gakuin University, Yokohama) Vol. 10 (1966), pp. 100-103.
"Review of Bertil Albrektson's Studies in the Text and Theology of the Book of Lamentations, inBible and Theology (Journal of the College of Theology, Kanto Gakuin University, Yokohama) Vol. 10 (1966), 104-105.
"The Alleged Sumerian Influence Upon Lamentations," Vetus Testamentum, Vol. XVIII No. 2 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1968), pp. 198-209.
"Philological Studies in Lamentations," Biblica, Vol. 49 Fasc. 2 (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1968), pp. 27-53, 199-220.
"The Consonantal Force of the He in the Tetragrammaton," Bible and Theology (Journal of the College of Theology, Kanto Gakuin University, Yokohama) Vol. 12 (1968), pp. 1-24.
"Studies on the Song of Deborah," paper presented at the 1968 Annual Meeting of the Japan Old Testament Scholars Society, Tokyo.
"A Critique of James Barr's Critique of Old Testament Philology," paper presented at the 1969 Annual Meeting of the Japan Old Testament Scholars Society, Tokyo.
"Response to Professor Paul Van Buren's 'How Shall We Now Exegete the Apostolic Writings/New Testament?'" in International Theological Symposium on the Holocaust (Philadelphia: National Institute on the Holocaust, 1978), pp. 125-131.
"Review of Hans Gottlieb's A Study on the Text of Lamentations" (Acta Jutlandica 48, Theological Studies 12; Arhus: 1978) in the Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 98 No 4 (Missoula, MT: Society of Biblical Literature, 1979), p. 598.
"Review of John L. Topolewski's 'The Rabbi's Elixir: Epistemology and Story Telling,' " Nexus Vol. 12 (1978)" in Homiletic Vol. 5, No. 1 (1980), pp. 9-10.
"Days of Devotion," The American Baptist, Vol. 178, No. 10 (Valley Forge: The American Baptist Churches, USA, Nov. 1980), pp. 26-27.
"The Kingdom and the Early Prophets: God's Call to Responsible Leadership," The Baptist Leader Vol. 41, No. 3-5 (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1981), 39 pages passim.
"The Book of Deuteronomy," Adult Class, Vol 75, No. 4 (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1981), pp. 1-65.
"The Book of Deuteronomy," The Baptist Leader Vol. 43 (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1981), 39 pages passim.
Deborah Never Sang: A Philological Commentary on Judges 5 (Jerusalem: Makor Press, 1983) 404 pages.
"Listen With Both Ears: Devotional I and II," The Evangelical Round Table: Christianity and the Arab/Israeli Conflict, Vol. I (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), pp. 63-65, 136-138.
"The Recovery of Reconciliation," The American Baptist, Vol. 185, No. 3 (Valley Forge: The American Baptist Churches, USA, 1987), pp. 10-11.
"The Right to Work -- A Gift of Creation," Minister, Vol. 3 No. 2 (Valley Forge: American Baptist Ministers Council, 1987), pp. 1-3.
"A Reappraisal of the Pearls and Parallels in Matthew 7:6," a paper presented at a faculty forum, 1999.
The Song of Deborah: Poetry in Dialect. 1999. A free internet book publication in Adobe PDF format available at http://daniel.eastern.edu/seminary/tmcdaniel/Volume One By Chapter.htm.
Clarifying Baffling Biblical Passages. 2002. A free internet book publication in Adobe PDF format available at http://daniel.eastern.edu/seminary/tmcdaniel/Volume Two.htm.
Clarifying More Baffling Biblical Passages. 2004. A free internet book publication in Adobe PDF format available at http:daniel.eastern.edu/seminary/tmcdaniel/Volume Three.htm.
Aramaic Names and Hebrew Matthew. 2008. A free internet book publication in Adobe PDF format available at http:daniel.eastern.edu/seminary/tmcdaniel/Volume-4.html.
Miscellaneous Biblical Studies. 2010. A free internet book publication in Adobe PDF format available at http:daniel.eastern.edu/seminary/tmcdaniel/Volume-5.html.
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND LISTINGS:
• Before retirement membership was maintained in the Society for Biblical Literature, the American Schools of Oriental Research, the National Association of Professors of Hebrew. Listed in the Sixth Edition of the Directory of American Scholars and the 1976 edition of Who's Who in Religion.
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: March 1, 1931, Baltimore, Maryland.
FAMILY: Married to Doris Jean Hudgins, R. N. (retired). One son, James Walter, married to Kim Heise of Glenn Ellen, Illinois. They are the parents of four: Erica, Ian, Lauren, and Owen.
