{{Short description|American Christian theologian (1916 – 2004)}} {{redirect|Gleason Archer|his father, the founder of Suffolk University|Gleason Archer Sr.}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2013}} {{Infobox academic | name = Gleason Archer Jr. | image = | alt = | caption = | other_names = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|5|22}} | birth_place = [[Norwell, Massachusetts]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2004|4|27|1916|5|22}} | death_place = [[Sterling, Kansas]], U.S. | citizenship = | education = {{no wrap|[[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]], [[PhD]])}}<br>[[Suffolk University]] ([[LLB]])<br>[[Princeton Theological Seminary]] ([[BDiv]]) | employer = | known_for = | title = | parents = [[Gleason Archer Sr.]] (father) | spouse = {{Plainlist | * {{marriage |Virginia Lillian (nee Atkinson)|1939|1962|end=her death}} * {{marriage |Sandra Paula (nee Larson))|1964|1999|end=her death}} }} | partner = | children = | website = | thesis_url = https://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990037398160203941/catalog | thesis_year = 1944 | thesis_title = The Reception of Pindar in Germany during the Eighteenth Century | discipline = [[Biblical studies]] | workplaces = [[Fuller Theological Seminary]]<br />[[Trinity Evangelical Divinity School]] }}
'''Gleason Leonard Archer Jr.''' (May 22, 1916 – April 27, 2004) was an American [[Bible|biblical]] scholar, theologian, [[education|educator]] and author. He is notable for his work on well-known Bible translations and for his defense of biblical inerrancy.
==Early life and education== Gleason Archer was born in [[Norwell, Massachusetts]], in 1916 and became a Christian at a young age through the influence of his mother, Elizabeth Archer. His maternal grandfather was a pastor. Archer's father was [[Gleason Archer Sr.]], the first president of [[Suffolk University]] and the founder of [[Suffolk Law School]].
Archer was raised in [[Boston, Massachusetts]]. After graduating from [[Boston Latin School]], he was educated at [[Harvard University]], where he received a [[Bachelor of Arts]], ''[[summa cum laude]]'', in [[classics]] in 1938. He then received a [[Bachelor of Laws]] (LL.B.) from [[Suffolk University|Suffolk Law School]] in 1939, the same year he was admitted to the [[Massachusetts Bar Association]].<ref name="JETSMemorial" />
In 1940, Archer received a master's degree from Harvard and also earned a Ph.D. from the university in classics in 1944. In 1945, he received his [[Bachelor of Divinity]] (B.Div.) from [[Princeton Theological Seminary]].<ref name="JETSMemorial">{{cite journal |title=Memorial to Gleason Archer |journal=[[Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society]] |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=213–220 |date=March 2005 |url=http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/48/48-1/48-1-pp213-220_JETS.pdf |access-date=February 18, 2016 |archive-date=August 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804122533/https://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/48/48-1/48-1-pp213-220_JETS.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Career== Archer served as an assistant pastor at [[Park Street Church]] in Boston from 1945 to 1948. He then was a professor of Biblical languages at [[Fuller Theological Seminary]] in [[Pasadena, California]], from 1948 to 1965.
From 1965 to 1986, Archer served as a professor of [[Old Testament]] and [[Semitic languages|semitics]] at [[Trinity Evangelical Divinity School]] in [[Deerfield, Illinois]]. He became an [[emeritus]] faculty member in 1989. The remainder of his life was spent researching, writing, and lecturing.
Archer served as one of the 50 original translators of the [[New American Standard Bible|NASB]] published in 1971. He also worked on the team which translated the [[New International Version|NIV]] Bible published in 1978. His defense of the doctrine of [[Biblical inerrancy]] by proposing harmonizations and [[exegesis]] regarding [[inconsistencies in the Bible]] made Archer a well known [[Biblical inerrancy|biblical inerrantist]]. He stated: "One cannot allow for error in history-science without also ending up with error in doctrine."<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.frontlinemin.org/resurrection.asp|title= Resurrection|publisher= Frontline Ministries|access-date= August 17, 2005|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080522111719/http://www.frontlinemin.org/resurrection.asp|archive-date= May 22, 2008|url-status= dead}}; quoted without reference</ref> He was critical of the documentary hypothesis which denies the [[Mosaic authorship]] of the [[Torah|Pentateuch]]. Archer also maintained that the prophet [[Isaiah]] wrote the entire [[book of Isaiah]]; he wrote regarding this issue: "There is not a shred of internal evidence to support the theory of a Second Isaiah, apart from a philosophical prejudice against the possibility of predictive prophecy."
In 1986 a ''[[Festschrift]]'' was published in his honor. ''A Tribute to Gleason Archer: Essays on the Old Testament'' included contributions from [[John J. Davis (theologian)|John J. Davis]], [[Walter C. Kaiser]], [[Meredith G. Kline]], [[John H. Sailhamer]], [[Bruce K. Waltke]], [[Edwin M. Yamauchi]], and [[Ronald F. Youngblood]].
==Works== {{Portal|Christianity}}
===Books=== *{{cite thesis|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |title=The reception of Pindar in Germany during the eighteenth century |type=Ph. D. |publisher=Harvard University |date=1944 }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |title=In the Shadow of the Cross |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Zondervan |date=1957 }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |title=The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Study Manual |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Baker Book House |date=1957 }} *{{cite book|last=Jerome |first=Saint |author-link=Saint Jerome |title=Jerome's commentary on Daniel |translator-last=Archer|translator-first=Gleason Leonard Jr. |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Baker Book House |date=1958 }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |title=The Epistle to the Romans: A Study Manual |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Baker Book House |date=1959 }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |title=A Survey of Old Testament Introduction |location=Chicago, IL |publisher=Moody Press |date=1964 }} *{{cite book |last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |author2-last=Harris |author2-first=R. Laird |author2-link=R. Laird Harris |author3-last=Waltke |author3-first=Bruce K. |author3-link=Bruce K. Waltke |title=Theological wordbook of the Old Testament |location=Chicago, IL |publisher=Moody Press |date=1980 |isbn=0-8024-8631-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/theologicalwordb01harr }} *{{cite book |last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |title=Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Zondervan |date=1982 |isbn=0-310-43570-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbi00arch }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |title=The Book of Job: God's Answer to the Problem of Undeserved Suffering |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Baker Book House |date=1983 }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |author2-last=Chirichigno |author2-first=Gregory |title=Old Testament quotations in the New Testament |location=Chicago |publisher=Moody Press|date=1983 |isbn=0-8024-0236-4 }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |title=A descriptive catalog of the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Biblical coin collection |location=Deerfield, IL |publisher=Trinity Evangelical Divinity School |date=1986 }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |author2-last=Kaiser |author2-first=Walter C. |author2-link=Walter C. Kaiser |author3-last=Youngblood |author3-first=Ronald F. |author3-link=Ronald F. Youngblood |title=A Tribute to Gleason Archer |location=Chicago, IL |publisher=Moody Pres |date=1986 |isbn=0-8024-8780-7 }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |author2-last=Hill |author2-first=Gary |title=The Discovery Bible. New American Standard, New Testament |edition=Reference |location=Chicago, IL |publisher=Moody Press |date=1987 |isbn=0-8024-4159-9 }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |title=A Survey of Old Testament Introduction |location=Chicago |publisher=Moody Press |date=1994 |isbn=0-8024-8200-7 |edition=Updated }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |author2-last=Feinberg |author2-first=Paul |author2-link=Paul Feinberg |author3-last=Moo |author3-first=Douglas |author3-link=Douglas Moo |title=Three Views on the Rapture |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Zondervan |date=1996 |isbn=0-310-21298-7 }} *{{cite book|last=Archer Jr. |first=Gleason Leonard |author-mask=3 |title=A Survey of Old Testament Introduction |location=Chicago |publisher=Moody Press |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-8024-8434-5 |edition=Revised }}
== References == {{Reflist|1}}
==Reference works== *{{cite book|last=Robbins |first=David L. |title=Gleason L. Archer |series=Suffolk University historical pamphlet series |location=Boston, MA |publisher=Suffolk University |date=1980 }}
{{Fuller Theological Seminary}} {{Trinity Evangelical Divinity School}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Archer, Gleason L. Jr.}} [[Category:1916 births]] [[Category:2004 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American male writers]] [[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]] [[Category:20th-century American theologians]] [[Category:20th-century Christian biblical scholars]] [[Category:20th-century evangelicals]] [[Category:21st-century American male writers]] [[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]] [[Category:21st-century American theologians]] [[Category:21st-century Christian biblical scholars]] [[Category:21st-century evangelicals]] [[Category:American Evangelical writers]] [[Category:American male non-fiction writers]] [[Category:American religious writers]] [[Category:Evangelical theologians]] [[Category:Fuller Theological Seminary faculty]] [[Category:Harvard College alumni]] [[Category:Old Testament scholars]] [[Category:Princeton Theological Seminary alumni]] [[Category:Suffolk University Law School alumni]] [[Category:Trinity International University faculty]] [[Category:Writers from Boston]] [[Category:Presidents of the Evangelical Theological Society]] [[Category:21st-century American biblical scholars]] [[Category:20th-century American biblical scholars]]