Dan Goodman, N.C. seminary professor, dies suddenly

BOILING SPRINGS, N.c. (ABP) — A 40-year-old professor at a North Carolina Baptist divinity school died unexpectedly Jan. 13.

Gardner-Webb University officials released a statement saying Dan Goodman, the Bob D. Shepherd Chair of New Testament Interpretation at the college’s M. Christopher White School of Divinity, had died suddenly. Details on the cause of death were incomplete as of press time for this story.

His funeral was scheduled for 11 a.m. Jan. 15th at Boiling Springs (N.C.) Baptist Church, where Goodman was a member.

Dan Goodman

“The Gardner-Webb University family has been profoundly saddened by the loss of Dr. Dan Goodman,” said Frank Bonner, Gardner-Webb’s president since 2005. “He was loved and admired by students, faculty, staff and all who knew him.

“Dr. Goodman was all that a university family could wish or hope for — a great teacher, an outstanding scholar and a wonderful colleague.”

Goodman is the fourth staff or faculty member at Gardner-Webb to die in the past 30 months, three of them unexpectedly.

Sid Haton, director athletic bands and instructor in music, died on campus Sept. 18, 2008. In June of 2006 the school’s vice president for development, David Boan, was killed in a car accident and Bruce Rabon, assistant vice president for development, died from cancer.

Goodman joined the faculty of the divinity school in the fall of 2003 as associate professor of New Testament. Prior to coming to North Carolina, he was associate professor of New Testament Studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida, where he was twice named professor of the year.

In 2004, Goodman was one of only ten seminary professors nationwide to be awarded the Theological Scholars Grant from the Association of Theological Schools and the Lilly Foundation. The award recognized his project on the history of Baptist-Jewish relations. 

Goodman regularly contributed to book reviews and journals. His primary research interests included Christian origins, Jesus and the gospels, hermeneutics, and Jewish-Christian dialogue. He also served as an interim pastor in Baptist churches in New York, New Jersey, Florida and North Carolina.

Rabbi Irving Greenberg, former chairman of the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington and a national leader in Jewish-Christian dialogue, described Goodman as “an up-and-coming scholar” and “a leader in the new vision of interpretation and learning.”

He is survived by a wife and two sons, ages 11 and 15.

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