Many of the great theological dialog partners have passed onto glory within the last few months. Great men of faith such as, Meredith Kline, Bruce Metzger, Brevard Childs, and Herman Ridderbos have all gone to be with their savior recently. While we revel in their current status, we are saddened that they will not be here to help us articulate the faith in a meaningful way. However, I am reminded of a poem written by Emily Dickenson.

A WORD is dead

when it is said,

some say.

I say it just

begins to live

that day.

We are blessed to have their words, scrawled into tomes or their voices crystallized in a moment of academic splendor. So in the end, I guess that I agree with Dickenson; their words written or uttered have taken a life of their own guiding us, their students, to new heights as we grapple with the same faith and the same texts. We thank God for the work that they did and that we have been fortunate to learn from them while they shared in this terrestrial existence.