May, Herbert G. (Herbert Gordon), 1904-1977

The Rev. Dr. Herbert Gordon May, internationally known biblical scholar, was born in Fair Haven, Vermont in 1904. He graduated with the B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1927 and received the M.A. (1929) and the Ph. D. (1931) from the University of Chicago. He earned the B.D. degree from Chicago Theological Seminary in 1930 and the D.D. from Wesleyan University in 1952. Oberlin College awarded May the honorary L.H.D. in 1976. From 1931 to 1934, he served as epigrapher to the University of Chicago archaeological expedition to the ancient city of Megiddo in Palestine. In 1934, May joined the Oberlin College Graduate School of Theology facultly as Associate Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature, replacing the much-admired Kemper Fullerton. May won appointment to the Finney Professorship in 1946. When the seminary merged with Vanderbilt University Divinity School in 1966, May divided the academic year between the Oberlin College Department of Religion and the Vanderbilt Divinity School. Upon his retirement from teaching in 1970, May served as Visiting Professor of Old Testament at Yale Divinity School (1970-1972) and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Religion at Oberlin College (1972-1973). In 1946, May was named to the Revised Standard Version Bible Committee, which was then working on what would become the Revised Standard Version of the Bible (1952). From 1960 until his death, May served as Vice Chairman and Head of the Revised Standard Version Bible Committee's Old Testament Section, and from 1966 to 1976, May served as committee chairman. In 1976, May published, with Bruce Metzger, the New Oxford annotated Bible with Apocrypha. Altogether, May's scholarly publications number more than 200. May died in a car accident in Jacksonville, Florida in 1977.

From the description of Papers, 1930-1978. (Oberlin College Library). WorldCat record id: 27766095