Gerhard F. Hasel, 1935-1994 (Life Sketch)

Gerhard Franz Hasel was born in | Vienna, Austria, on July 27, 1935, the third and next to youngest child of Franz Joseph and Helene (nee Schroeter) Hasel, and passed away on August 11, 1994 aged 59. At the time of death he was serving as the first John Nevins Andrews Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology and as Director of the Ph.D. and Th.D. Programs at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews University. Earlier he had served seven years (1981-1988) as Seminary Dean.

He was a highly regarded scholar, an exceptionally productive author, an effective administrator, an active leader in his local church, and a faithful and affectionate family man. If the phone messages that have been coming to me are any indication, and I am sure they are, his death has been a deep shock to many, producing a profound sense of loss. One caller, from California, observed that Dr. Hasel was a giant who won the respect of scholars of other religions without compromising his own principles. A church leader in the East spoke of him as "a remarkable scholar whose heart was committed to the Adventist message and who was a most effective defender of the faith." The pastor of a congregation far out in the Nebraska panhandle said, "My people dearly loved him."

FAXes have come in from several overseas divisions of the Adventist organization. One, from the Africa-Indian Ocean Division, said, "The light he lit across Africa will continue to burn brightly." You will be glad to know that his two sisters are here [at the funeral, August 17, 1994] from California, and his older brother from Germany. Also here are representatives from various institutions and church administrative entities.

Gerhard spent the war years, 1939-1945, in or near Frankfurt, Germany, growing from age 4 to age 10. His accounts of those years have formed week-long series at camp meetings. His father, a minister and literature evangelist, was early drafted into the Wehrmacht and assigned to the Russian front. From time to time when alone he drew courage from a fading picture of the Daniel 2 image, which he treasured in a pocket, reminding himself that Hitler must fail sooner or later. A convinced non-combatant, he nonetheless saw his share of danger; but under heaven's blessing he became one of only seven men out of his original battalion of several hundred, to return home alive. He was one of only two of the seven who came home uninjured.

Gerhard's mother took a firm stand that none of her children would attend school on the Sabbath. On one crucial occasion, while her small children waited at home for her return or for their being scattered to unknown destinations, the officer who was expected to sentence her fell ill, so that at the critical moment he was replaced by an officer who had once been befriended by an Adventist couple. Gerhard's mother returned home to some very happy children. The immovable commitment of his parents to God's Word clearly contributed a lifelong attribute to Dr. Hasel's character.

The passing of years found Gerhard completing elementary and secondary schools and entering a trade school. In 1953, when he was 18, he was identified as the best apprentice in electrical engineering in all of Frankfurt and was subsequently designated the best apprentice in electrical engineering in the state of Hessen. With these impressive citations came an invitation to the Technical College in nearby Darmstadt with full scholarship support through graduate school.

But as the Lord worked on his heart, he kept asking himself, "Why should I work in a field that anyone else could choose? Why don't I do something for the Lord that only I could do?"

So thinking, he turned down the proffered scholarship and enrolled in the theology program at the little Seventh-day Adventist Marienhöhe Seminary (also in Darmstadt), completing the four-year licentiate program in 1958. To meet expenses, he did colporteur work every summer, following in the footsteps of his father, who became the Publishing Director for the Central European Division. Dr. Hasel often observed later that the literature work is a most valuable preparation for the ministry.

In the summer of 1958, he and his older brother Kurt-who is now a retired pastor-evangelist in Germany-asked God for a sign. If either of them sold above a certain minimum, they would conclude that the Lord wanted that one to study in America; but if either earned less, that one should go to Newbold College in Britain. They entered into a covenant, separated to different areas, set to work, and did very well, except that (as Kurt remembers) Gerhard sold double what he did.

Thus in 1958 Gerhard traveled to the United States by ship and enrolled at Atlantic Union College. Gerhard's first goal was to learn English and his second, to find answers to theological questions. Among his classmates at A.U.C. was Jim North, who in 1988 also became a member of the Seminary faculty.

Building on his work at Marienhöhe, Gerhard completed (1959) a B.A. in one year and moved to Berrien Springs, where he earned (1960) an M.A. in Systematic Theology in a single year-still canvassing in the summers to pay his way. By 1962 he had a B.D. (the degree now known as an M.Div.). But in the meantime, on June 11, 1961, in Chicago, he married Hilde Schäfer. Hilde was still a student at Emmanuel Missionary College and thought she was much too young to get married. But when Gerhard persuaded her that she was unquestionably old enough, she gave her consent. "It was the best decision I ever made," she says. Over time, three children were born to them, Michael, Marlena, and Melissa, all of them now married. How good the parents looked together at Melissa's wedding, so little time ago! Upon receiving his B.D., Gerhard served first as a pastor in Boston for a year (1962-1963) and then as Assistant Professor of Religion at Southern College for four years (1963-1967), being ordained to the gospel ministry in 1966. In 1967 he began a 27-year teaching career at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, starting as Assistant Professor and ending, as of July this year, as the first John Nevins Andrews Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology.

In 1970 he completed a Ph.D. program in Biblical Studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He had divided his class work evenly between New and Old Testaments, but his dissertation was based on the Old Testament: "The Origin and Early History of the Remnant Motif in Ancient Israel." A legend floats among Adventist academics that his major professor, who did not share Gerhard's confidence in Scripture as the Word of God, told a subsequent Adventist student that Gerhard Hasel was his most brilliant student to date and was also the most firm in standing for his convictions. To help finance his university training he accepted two named scholarships, a Hillel Scholarship and a Danforth Teacher Grant.

In 1976 (-1982), when Dr. Siegfried Horn became Dean, Dr. Hasel became chairman of the Seminary's Old Testament Department and Director of the Ph.D. and Th.D. Programs (1976-1994).

After Tom Blinco's deanship, Dr. Hasel served as Dean for seven years beginning in 1981 (Sept. 1). At that time the so-called "Ford crisis" had just peaked, and church leaders around the world demanded that the denomination's premier seminary be headed by a reputable scholar of self-evident loyalty to the Seventh-day Adventist fundamentals. During his tenure as Dean, Dr. Hasel balanced the Seminary's budget in spite of severe financial difficulties, called several strong faculty members, led in a reorganization of the curriculum which enhanced its "practics" quality, and in general developed a seminary that proved to be a delight to the Spring, 1989 accreditation team. Noting that our seminary was one to be proud of, "equal to any in the land," the team leader told the assembled faculty, "You should go out and celebrate." (We did.)

At the time of his death Dr. Hasel was an active member of seven learned societies (Adventist Theological Society, American Academy of Religion, American Schools of Oriental Research, Chicago Society of Religious Studies, International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, Near East Archaeological Society, and Society of Biblical Literature) and of two honorary societies (Alpha Mu Gamma and Theta Alpha Kappa). He was listed in nine "Who's Who" kinds of publications, including Men of Achievement, 6th edition, and the prestigious Dictionary of International Biography.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, theological concern provoked discussion at Columbia Union College and Southern College of Seventh-day Adventists about the possible formation of a new society directed against perceived permutations. Thus was born, in 1988, at Southern College, the Adventist Theological Society, with Dr. Jack Blanco as its first president. Though reluctant to provide leadership at first, Dr. Hasel became a strong president of the new organization in 1990 (-1992) and continued to give considerable attention to it until his death. He believed that what A.T.S. stood for was vital to the work of God and to the health of this world-wide denomination.

Dr. Hasel's publishing profile is almost exhausting to contemplate. For over twenty years (1973-1994) he was associate editor of Andrews University Seminary Studies, and circulation manager as well for seven of those years (1973-1980). He was also an editorial consultant for twenty years (1974-1994) of Origins, the S.D.A. journal of creation science, and for several years was a member of the editorial board (1990-1994) of the Journal of the Adventist Theological Society. He was recently appointed an associate editor of The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology. He is the only writer who has contributed a major article for each volume of the great series, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. By invitation, he wrote a brilliant article on the Sabbath for the Anchor Bible Dictionary, and at the time of his death was working on two volumes, Amos and Hosea, for Eerdman's New International Commentary on the Old Testament.

Michael has compiled a list of 14 books, not counting major revisions, and 319 articles and book reviews written by his father-plus a number of titles which are still in process of publication. A relatively small number of the articles are devotional, while most are astonishingly "scholarly," with perhaps a hundred or even two hundred references to learned works in various languages. His book The Old Testament: Basic Issues in the Current Debate has gone through three significant revisions (or updatings) and is used in quite a number of non-Adventist colleges and seminaries in the United States and Canada, and in most of the Universities in South Africa. A non-Adventist school in Korea made a translation for the use of its students. A Portuguese translation is used in South America. His New Testament: Basic Issues in the Current Debate has also seen wide acceptance as a textbook in seminaries of many denominations.

One test of a writer's impact in the academic world is the degree to which his books are reviewed in scholarly journals. Warren Johns has so far located no fewer than 39 reviews of four of Dr. Hasel's books. He has also compiled a list of approximately 50 scholarly papers presented to learned societies and denominational study committees. Dr. Hasel's publications led to invitations for guest lectureships in a variety of non-Adventist institutions.

 Time fails to tell about Dr. Hasel's significant contributions to the 1974 Bible Conferences, to the 1980 Glacier View meetings, to Bible Conferences, camp meetings, and ministers' meetings around the world, and to the ongoing work of the Biblical Research Institute.

When Michael showed me his list of his father's literary output, I asked him and Melissa, who was sitting nearby, "Did your Father ever have time for you children?" They responded quickly, "O yes, lots of time!" Their mother explained that he was often home and available to the children on Friday nights and Sabbaths, and that he was conscientious about taking month-long vacations with the family even if, at times, he spent a portion of the months speaking at a camp meeting. When he was busy, the children sensed that he was working for God. They also knew that he would "be there" for them whenever they needed him.

Yes, the children urged me to include in this life sketch that their father was never interested in self-exaltation. His objective since boyhood was to be used by God. God helped him understand the Bible because He was willing to study it, praying for God's guidance. His goal, they told me, was to find truth and to reach people for God around the world, helping them prepare for the second coming.

Like any man of ardor and profound conviction, it was inevitable that Dr. Hasel was at times controversial. But even those who did not agree with all his views acknowledge that he was a titan among us, one who committed robust energies and impressive intellect to the quest for truth and who exerted a tangible influence in Old Testament circles within and without our church, supporting the integrity of the Bible.

His objective since boyhood was to be used by God. His goal was to find truth and to reach people for God around the world, helping them prepare for the second coming .

Several times in his life it seemed to Dr. Hasel that God and His angels were protecting him from imminent danger, not only in his childhood during the war, but also in his adulthood. Once heavy ice developed on the wings of a small plane that was carrying him over high mountains in New Zealand. With great effort, the plane managed to clear the pass inches from the snow below. Another time, sightseeing above the Iguaçu Falls on the border between Brazil and Argentina, he was startled to realize that the little boat he was sitting in was drifting perilously toward the upper rim, even though it was directed away from it, the motor was going full blast, and the owner was paddling for all he was worth.

About 2:30 last Thursday afternoon, August 11, Dr. Hasel turned off Interstate 15 at an interchange in a built-up area near Ogden, Utah. (He was driving a rental car and was in the area to read a paper on the "days" of Genesis 1.) As he approached the four-lane artery that passed under the Interstate, he paused at the stop sign, then turned left to cross the street. In doing so, he moved directly into the path of an oncoming car, which hit his vehicle on the left side between the front wheel and the driver's door. The oncoming car was going well within the posted 55 m.p.h. speed limit. The air bag in the oncoming car protected its driver from everything but a few scratches and bruises, but Dr. Hasel's air bag, though it functioned as designed, was unable to protect him from a side blow. Dr. Hasel did not regain consciousness.

Where were the angels then?

Education, p. 305, says that "every redeemed one will understand the ministry of angels in his own life. The angel who was his guardian from his earliest moment; the angel who watched his steps, and covered [protected] his head in the day of peril; the angel who was with him in the valley of the shadow of death, who marked his resting place, who was the first to greet him in the resurrection morning-what will it be to hold converse with him, and to learn the history of divine interposition in the individual life, of heavenly cooperation in every work for humanity!"

It seems appropriate to close with comments by Ellen G. White, a co-founder of this denomination, written in respect to the sudden death of her husband at age 60:

"When he upon whose large affections I had leaned, with whom I had labored for thirty-six years [Gerhard and Hilde worked together 33 years], was taken away, I could lay my hands upon his eyes, and say, I commit my treasure to Thee until the morning of the resurrection.... [Yet] at times I felt that I could not have my husband die. But these words seemed to be impressed on my mind: 'Be still, and know that I am God.'

"I keenly feel my loss, but dare not give myself up to... grief.... We will be thankful for the years of usefulness that were granted to him; I will look with pleasure upon his resting place. The best way in which I and my children can honor the memory of him who has fallen, is to take the work where he left it, and in the strength of Jesus carry it forward to completion.

"I take up my lifework alone, in full confidence that my Redeemer will be with me.... Only a little while then Christ will come.... We are left on earth to encounter storms and conflicts, to perfect Christian character, to become better acquainted with God our Father, and Christ our elder Brother, and to do work for the Master in winning many souls to Christ." 1T 111-112.