Gold, Victor, 1928-

Biographical/Historical Description

Victor Roland Gold was born September 18, 1924 in Garden City, Kansas. He graduated from Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, in 1945 and from Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, in 1946. He received his doctorate in Old Testament studies from John Hopkins University (1951), a student of William Foxwell Albright. He served congregations in Texas, Maryland and Michigan prior to his call as an Associate Professor of Old Testament at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, CA in 1956. He taught there for over 50 years. A student remembers that he opened his classes by saying, "I'm still doing this because I am still learning new ways of understanding the Bible-from you, my students." He died September 17, 2008, in Oakland, CA.

Prof. Gold participated in many prominent excavations, including Lachish and Beer Sheva. Among his writings, he provided annotations on Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah for the first editions of the Oxford Annotated Bible and has more than 200 entries in the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. He chaired the committee of the National Council of Churches that created the Inclusive Language Lectionary.

Prof. Gold was an active participant in the founding and development of the Graduate Theological Union. By 1958, the seminaries in the Berkeley area had begun to discuss the possibility of a cooperative program. He participated in the Interseminary Committee on a Cooperative Graduate Program. It was from these discussions, and the work of this committee, that the Graduate Theological Union was formed and eventually incorporated. Prof. Gold continued his participation in the GTU through the work of various committees, such as a dean's search committee that brought Dr. Claude Welch to become dean of the GTU; the committee which worked to form the Common Library; and the committee to work on the internal structure of the GTU, the faculty, and the curriculum. Gold also served as Convenor of Area I, Biblical Studies; and coordinated the common GTU introductory course in Biblical Studies.

(Biographical information from Tim Fries, "Victor Gold," Obituaries of members of the American Schools of Oriental Research, www.asor.org/updates/obituaries.html accessed February 24, 2009.)

From the guide to the Victor Gold Collection, 1958-2000, (The Graduate Theological Union.)