Sad News: The Death of Frederick Danker

Cliff Kvidahl writes

‎Frederick W. Danker, the great lexicographer who brought us BDAG, has passed away.

May Prof. Danker rest in peace.

Frederick W. Danker [was] the Christ Seminary-Seminex Professor Emeritus of New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago, Illinois. One of the worlds premier classicists and Greek lexicograhers, Danker is best known for his thorough revision of the english version of Bauer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, which was released as the 3rd edition in 2000, also known as BDAG. Besides this major achievement, professor Danker was also a part of the previous edition of the lexicon (BAGD), teaming up with professor Gingrich.

Professor Danker received his formal training at the above-mentioned Concordia Seminary, wherein he satisfied requirements for a B.D. degree by dissertation on the function of the hebrew word הֶבֶל (hebel) within the book of Qoheleth. Frederick W. Danker undertook his PhD studies at the University of Chicago, Department of Humanities, in classical studies, with special interest in Homer, Pindar, and the Greek tragedians, finally writing a dissertation on “Threnetic Penetration in Aeschylus and Sophocles.”

From 1954 on, Frederick W Danker taught at LCMS Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. In 1974, he left with the vast majority of faculty members to form Concordia Seminary in Exile, also known as Seminex. On voluntary dissolution of Seminex 1983, professor Danker chose to go to the Lutheran School of Theology, where he taught until his retirement in 1988. Since then, he began his magisterial work on the BDAG, upon which completion the lexicon was finally released in 2000.

UPDATE:  From the ETC Blog  …Frederick W. Danker died today around noon local time. His memorial service is Saturday 18 Feb, 2 p.m., at Bethel Lutheran Church, 7001 Forsyth Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63105.