Brevard S. Childs (1923-2007), Old Testament professor at Yale University from 1958 until he retired in 1999. Childs had a significant positive influence in biblical theology by insisting that interpreters should be Christians who view the text as Scripture and regard the final form of the canon as the norm for interpretation. However, he held to many liberal views about Scripture, denying that Moses wrote the Pentateuch and seeing elements of pagan mythology in the Bible.
After serving in U.S. Army during WWII and studying at the University of Michigan, Childs earned his B.D. at Princeton Theological Seminary (1950) and then a doctorate at the University of Basel, Switzerland (1955).
