Barton - After the Exile - Essays in Honour of Dex Mason

Rex and Audrey Mason returned to Oxford, where they had both been undergraduates, in 1975. Rex had been appointed tutor in Hebrew and Old Testament Studies at Regent’s Park College, where he had himself trained for the Baptist ministry after reading English at St. Edmund Hall (1944-1945, 1947-1949). When Rex arrived at Regent’s I had myself just completed one year of my first University appointment as lecturer in Old Testament, in an Oxford very short of teachers in the subject, and it was both a relief and a delight to find that I had acquired a senior and experienced colleague on whose wisdom and help I could rely. Rex has been a very important part of the Old Testament scene in Oxford during the years since 1975; from my point of view, he has also been a close and trusted friend. He had taught Old Testament for eleven years before returning to Regent’s, at Spurgeon’s College, London. But his teaching rested not only on learning in the field of biblical studies (he took an Oxford B.D. in 1962 and a London Ph.D. in 1973), but also on pastoral experience. Ordained in the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1951, he had served in three churches—in London, Upminster, and Cardiff—before he began teaching at Spurgeon’s. Successive intakes of ministerial candidates at both colleges benefited from this combination of practical and academic experience, and his sure touch in dealing with people, not just with Hebrew verbs, was put to good use within Regent’s, where he was senior tutor for many years. In the Theology faculty he taught, examined, lectured, and supervised many students. It is unfair to single out one of these activities: but anyone who had the misfortune to lecture in the room next to Rex will remember the gales of laughter penetrating the walls at regular intervals, and the consequent danger of defections.

 

Rex was appointed to a “Special Non-C.U.F. Lecturership” in 1981: even long-standing denizens of the University of Oxford are seldom clear exactly what this (abbreviated SNCUF) means, but the simplest thing to say is that it means the holder would be a university lecturer and tutorial fellow if the college to which he or she belongs had full collegiate status. Regent’s is a Permanent Private Hall rather than, in the technical sense, a college. What this does not tell you is that very few SNCUFs are available, and only outstanding tutors at Oxford’s PPHs ever qualify for them; there are very few, and they are open to competition from tutors in all subjects. The universal respect in which the Theology faculty holds Rex may be seen from his election as faculty chairman for 1985-1987 and then, from 1988 to 1990, chairman of the faculty board—what elsewhere would be dean of the faculty or head of department.

 

There was much lamentation when Rex retired in 1993, not least for our loss of the wisdom, wit, modesty, and good humour that he brought to all the activities to which he contributed. It was tempered by the realization that we were not losing him: Botley is only a cycle-ride from Oxford (at least, for someone as fit as Rex). Though Rex and Audrey continue to delight in their house, Gwenfron, in mid-Wales, they retain their involvement in university and city activities.

 

Rex’s career has encompassed not only teaching and administration and writing (see the list of his publications), but also preaching and lecturing in Canada, the USA, and Australia, where as in this country there are many people who appreciate his peculiar genius for combining deep seriousness with glorious hilarity. This volume, on a subject that lies at the centre of Rex’s scholarly concerns, is offered by friends far and wide in honour of his seventieth birthday. We wish him and Audrey many happy years of “retirement” in which to demonstrate their great capacity for enjoying life, whether minding the grandchildren, cycling in France, walking in Wales, or even studying postexilic Judaism in Oxford.

 

Edited by John Barton and David J. Reimer. – Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1996. – 309 p.

ISBN 0-86554-524-3

ISBN 90-90-390-0153-7

 

Contributors

Abbreviations

Index of Selected Sources