Ed Blair

Ed Blair: A Remarkable Life

I sat down with Ed Blair on a sunny Tuesday morning, full of questions for this man I had heard so much about. A Bible scholar, world traveler, and a professor of a long and illustrious seminary career, Ed was already something of a legend among the staff and residents of Josephine Suites, Josephine’s assisted living facility in Stanwood, where Ed has made his home since 2000. Now at age 94, I was sure he would have much to tell me.

Ed’s credentials are impressive. In the span of his career, Ed published eight books, culminating in the 538-page Illustrated Bible Handbook in 1987. Altogether, some 90,000 copies of his books were sold. His walls are lined with a few of the accolades he has received, including Seattle Pacific University’s Alumnus of the Year (1981) and the Layman’s National Bible Committee Award, which was presented to him by Mrs. Norman Vincent Peale in (1975).

Ed is a teacher and mentor through and through. He speaks with eloquence and passion, using perfectly formed sentences, like pearls on a necklace to my ear. It is not hard at all to picture him at a seminary lectern, a piece of chalk in his hand, taking his students for an imaginary stroll through the sun-baked Galilean hills that once echoed with Christ’s beatitudes.

On this sunny Tuesday, just as I was sitting down, a staff member brought Ed’s mail to the door, and Ed sorted through it. “These are all letters from my students at Garrett,” he said, cradling the letters gently in his lap. “When I consider what is written in these letters, I think I made the right professional decisions.”

What decision was that, I asked?

Finding the answer to that question, I discovered, meant going all the way back to Christmas Eve, 1910, when Ed Blair was born in Woodburn, a suburb of Salem , Oregon . Ed’s father, Oscar Newton Blair, was the pastor of the local Free Methodist Church . Ed describes his father as a brilliant man with a deep thirst for knowledge. Although Oscar had no high school education, he had been admitted to Willamette University . He was able to read German and Greek, and worked on Hebrew. He was also a skilled mechanic and carpenter, and built his own house in Portland .

Ed’s mother Bertha had converted to Christianity shortly after her marriage to Oscar. She developed a profound passion for ministry, and was extremely active in the church, especially in visitation. “Mother’s main strength was love,” said Ed. “She was up every day at 5 a.m. to pray. She was good in everything at the church.”

There were five children in the family. Bernice was the oldest, followed by four boys: Harold, Glenn, Don, and Ed. The small salary Oscar received as pastor soon proved to be insufficient, and by the time Ed was three, Oscar left the ministry to become a police officer in Portland , Oregon .

“My mother was a little disappointed with my father when he left the ministry,” said Ed. “But they worked hard to raise us with drive and ambition.”

Then something happened that threatened to tear the family apart. At age 15, Harold, the oldest son, renounced his church and the faith of his family and left home. Harold remained estranged from his family for many years, but later turned to the faith of his parents.

The experience of Harold leaving the family focused Ed’s mother. She made up her mind that her other boys would get a good education. She knew of a Free Methodist school operated by Seattle Pacific College (now Seattle Pacific University ) and made plans to move there and enroll the boys.

Ed’s father, however, refused to give up his job with the Portland police department. Bertha was determined, Ed recalls. “My mother simply said, ‘We’re going.’ And we did.” Bertha arranged for a friend to give them a ride, and Ed remembers riding all day along the bumpy road to Seattle in a Reo Speedwagon. Oscar didn’t decide to rejoin the family until a year later. “He finally decided to put his shoulder to the wheel,” said Ed, “and our family was together again.”

Bertha’s persistence paid off. All three boys thrived in the new environment and went on to earn advanced degrees. Glenn earned an M.A. from the University of Washington and then a Ph.D. from Columbia University , and served for 37 years as a professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois . Ed’s other brother Don also earned an M.A. at the University of Washington , and, after extensive graduate work at Stanford University , became a public school principal in Washington and California . At length he became a professor of education at SPC. Ed attributes the academic success of these boys to their Mother’s guidance and also to their father’s brilliance and love of learning.

In college at Seattle Pacific, Ed was very active, and became president of the student body. In the summertime, he and his brother Glenn worked on a 6000 acre wheat ranch in eastern Oregon . As Ed finished his undergraduate degree at Seattle Pacific, he felt that God was leading him to become a minister. His mentor at SPC, President Watson, helped him get a generous scholarship at Biblical Seminary of New York. That fall, in 1931, Ed moved to New York City .

The seminary proved to be just the right place for Ed. He was especially drawn to theology and biblical studies, and his excellent work soon earned him the respect of his professors. They encouraged him to do advanced study and seek admission to a Ph.D. program. It was during these years at seminary that his sense of vocation was refined: he came to realize that his true calling was a scholar and a teacher.

Ed also found love at the seminary. A strikingly beautiful woman named Vivian Krisel, also a student at the seminary, caught Ed’s attention, but he could only watch her from afar. “She took the campus by storm,” recalls Ed. “Lots of guys were after her, and I didn’t think I had a chance.” Vivian had a degree from Omaha University , and now was studying for a Master of Religious Education. Ed’s first conversation with was in the back stairwell of the classroom building. “I was going up and she was going down, and when we met, we stopped and talked for some time about our families.” Love soon blossomed, and in 1934, after they both had graduated from the seminary, Ed and Vivian were married in Omaha , Vivian’s home town.

“I had sixty four years with her,” said Ed. “They were the best.” Ed had earned the respect and admiration of Josephine staff by the selfless and untiring devotion he showed Vivian, who died in 2002 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

In 1935, the future was bright for the young couple. Ed was awarded a fellowship from Yale to the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem . So taken was the fellowship committee with the young couple that they took the unprecedented step of increasing the stipend so that Vivian could join Ed in Israel .

In the Middle East , Ed had the opportunity to improve his understanding of biblical history and rub shoulders with some of the most important archeologists and scholars of the day, including William F. Albright, whose major achievements include confirming the authenticity of the Dead Sea Scrolls following their discovery in 1955. Vivian worked closely with Dr. Albright, serving as his secretary for that school year.

Ed’s first archeological work occurred in 1936 at Anata, the birthplace of Jeremiah (now part of present-day Israel ) where he directed a series of soundings under Dr. Albright’s guidance. (Thirty-two years later, in 1968 and 1969, Ed returned to the Middle East to take part in the Mt. Gerizim Expedition in the excavation of the Temple of Zeus.)

In 1936 Ed and Vivian came back to New Haven and, in December 1938, Ed completed his Ph.D. in biblical theology. Dr. Watson, his old friend from SPC, offered him a teaching position, which he accepted. That winter, Ed and Vivian drove to Seattle , and Ed taught in the Religion Department. Meanwhile, his professors back at Yale did not keep quiet about this budding young scholar, and his reputation began to grow. He received offers from various east coast educational institutions, some offering him twice the salary he was earning at tiny SPC. But Ed was happy at SPC. He had already been offered the Deanship of the School of Religion , and had little desire to leave the Pacific Northwest .

Then one day he got an offer from his alma mater, Biblical Seminary in New York , as Professor of Old Testament. The pay was actually less than what he was currently earning at SPC, but he felt that it was suitable to his interests and background. “I had an obligation to my field,” he said, pointing his finger for emphasis. Yet his loyalty to SPC ran deep, and he was quite torn. He went to SPC president Watson, who had by now become a personal friend. Watson agreed that he should take the appointment, releasing him from his new role of Dean.

Ed began teaching in the fall of 1941. In December of that same year, however, the president took him aside and said “Ed, I’m sorry to tell you this, but we’re closing our doors in June.” It was a tremendous blow to this aspiring young scholar. He had given up his deanship at SPC, not to mention a higher salary, only to have the rug pulled out from under him.

Ed started looking for work immediately. Because America had entered World War II just a few months earlier, the job prospects were bleak. In desperation, Ed even approached the local railroad company, but they told him he was “too old” (he was 31). Then a professor at Yale told him about a professorship at Garret Biblical Seminary, one of 13 Methodist seminaries in the United States . Ed interviewed with Garrett, and was offered the position, but he was unsure about what to do. Garret had a reputation for being very liberal theologically. Would his views as a conservative Free Methodist be welcome in such an environment?

That summer, Ed accepted a temporary position as a pastor of a Presbyterian congregation in Newberg , New York . One day, he decided to attend a multi-denominational ecumenical service that was being held at the top of a hill in a public park. As he was walking up the hill, he happened to fall into step with a Methodist pastor. “Something told me to talk to him,” recalls Ed. “I told him the whole story.” The pastor’s response was simple astonishment: “You’ve been invited to Garrett? This is an opportunity of a lifetime! You’re crazy if you don’t go!”

And a lifetime it was, or very nearly so. Ed accepted the position at Garrett, and together with their two daughters, Phyllis (born in 1939) and Sharon (1942), and Vivian and Ed moved to Evanston , Illinois . While Ed built his career at Garrett, Vivian served in a variety of positions, including Secretary of Evanston Council of Churches.

Ed taught at Garrett for 29 years, during which time he had the opportunity to work with thousands of students. By any definition, Ed’s career at Garrett was brilliant. He became a full professor in only four years, and was soon given administrative responsibilities. He was chairman of numerous academic committees and published hundreds of articles in various periodicals. And from his tutelage came at least a half-dozen bishops, many church superintendents, hundreds of pastors and missionaries, and thousands of students, all for the glory of God.

Ed has lost his beloved Vivian and he has outlived most of his colleagues, friends and siblings. And yet, even now, he has little occasion to doubt those early decisions to serve God and his church. He reminded me throughout the interview, “Everything I have, and all that I have done, I have been given.”

I asked Ed if he ever doubted his decision to become a professor. What if you had had become a pastor, for example? Or if you hadn’t decided to go to Garrett?

He shook his head. “No, I don’t,” he said. He laid his hand on the stack of letters resting on the arm of his chair. “Because of these, you see. They’re all from my students, writing to tell me how they are serving God.” The plaques and certificates on the walls of his apartment affirm his accomplishments, and the books and articles on the shelves attest to his academic and intellectual achievements. But these letters he holds, written with deep affection and gratitude from those he has helped and mentored over the years, affirm something far more important to Ed: they affirm his vocation, God’s deeper call on his life.

Last year, Ed had joined a family reunion held in Denver . When they invited him to speak to the gathering, some 39 family members in all, he decided to open with these words from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). “ People sometimes think my life has been pretty exciting,” he told them. “The beautiful things I have seen around the world, the music I have listened to, the privilege I have had to work with some of the brightest minds of my generation -- I may seem exotic. But I’m really quite ordinary. If I have accomplished things in my life, it is because the means have been given to me. I feel only gratitude! And besides, all this is as nothing compared to what God has planned for us. The most advanced social thinkers and philosophers have never produced any vision of the future comparable to what God has in mind for his children.”

Professor Blair falls silent now, settling back into his chair to read the letters from his students. Has Dr. Blair lived life well? Did he make the right decisions as a young man so long ago? He smiles as he reads, and I see that every sentence on the page is really just one sentence, one ringing affirmation: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Ed Blair has been a resident at the Suites, Josephine’s assisted living facility, since 2000.

Bibliography
> The Acts and Apocalyptic Literature: A Guide for Bible Readers.
       New York : Abingdon Press, 1946.
> The Bible and You: A Guide for Reading and Understanding the Bible in the Revised Standard Version.
      New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1953.
> The Layman’s Bible Commentary, Vol 5: Deuteronomy and Joshua.
      Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1959.
> Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew: A Reappraisal of the Distinctive Elements of Matthew’s Christology.
      New York: Abingdon Press, 1960.

      New York: Abingdon Press, 1975.
New York : Abingdon Press, 1987.
> Basic Bible Commentary Volume 25 Philippians, Colossians, First and Second Thessalonians (Abingdon Basic Bible Commentary).
      New York: Abingdon Press, 1994.