My father, Ronald Clements, who has died aged 94, was a theologian who taught for many years at Cambridge University and King’s College London, and became one of the pre-eminent British scholars of the Old Testament.
Ronald’s many books included Abraham and David: Genesis 15 and Its Meaning for Israelite Tradition (1967); Prophecy and Tradition (1975); Old Testament Theology: A Fresh Approach (1978); A Century of Old Testament Study (1983); Wisdom in Theology (1992); and Jerusalem and the Nations (2011), as well as commentaries on Exodus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Elected president of the Society for Old Testament Study for a year in 1985, he also served as that body’s foreign secretary and edited a number of other books, including The World of Ancient Israel: Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspectives (1989).
In 2013 he was awarded the Burkitt Medal by the British Academy in recognition of special service to biblical studies.
Ronald was born in South Woodford, east London, to Elizabeth (nee Cook), a factory worker, and her husband, George, a police officer. He went to Buckhurst Hill county high school before studying at Spurgeon’s College in South Norwood, south London, for the Baptist ministry.
Moving on to study theology at Christ’s College, Cambridge (1954-56), in 1955 he married Valerie Suffield, a secretary, whom he had met at South Woodford Baptist Church youth group in their teens.
Ronald then moved to Sheffield University, where he became the first PhD student of FF Bruce, the influential evangelical scholar. While he was at Sheffield he also served as a minister at Baptist churches in the Southey Green district of the city, and then Stratford-upon-Avon. His PhD thesis became his first book, God and Temple: The Idea of the Divine Presence in Ancient Israel, published in 1965.
After going on to teach theology and Hebrew at Edinburgh University (1960-67), Ronald was appointed as a lecturer in Old Testament literature and theology at Cambridge University and a fellow of Fitzwilliam College. In 1983 he became the Samuel Davidson professor of Old Testament at King’s College London until his retirement in 1992.
Throughout his career Ronald was passionate about showing that the Old Testament addresses issues that are relevant for the church and society today. His Christian faith remained alive as he continued his studies into his 90s alongside a love of flying and model aircraft, among many other things. In addition to an extensive theological library, he left a remarkable collection of aviation history books.
Valerie died in 2021. He is survived by their daughters, Gillian and me, and five grandchildren.
