Remembering Ralph P. Martin (1925 - 2013)

Ralph P. Martin, who died in February at the age of 87, was an Associate Professor in the Department of Biblical Studies from 1988 to 1996. He studied at the University of Manchester where he took a BA (Theol) and an MA, and the University of London, where he was awarded a PhD. He was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1949.

From 1965-69 he was a Lecturer in New Testament Studies at Manchester University before moving to Fuller Theological Seminary in the United States in 1969, where he established himself as one of the world’s leading New Testament scholars. Family matters brought him to Southport in Britain in 1988, and the department was pleased to be able to engage him as an Associate Professor. He taught a third-year course on his particular speciality, Worship in the New Testament, and supervised a number of PhD students.

His presence in Sheffield added to its pre-eminence at that time in Britain as a centre for post-graduate research in Biblical Studies. After the death of his wife, Lilly, Martin returned to the United States and his position at Fuller.

JWR