In memoriam, David John Williams, 1933-2008; Ridley College, 1955-1998
In David John Williams the church was blessed with a man of gentle godliness, integrity, scholarship and great faithfulness. For half a century his name has been associated with Ridley College. He was an internationally acknowledged New Testament scholar, serving on the translation committee for the New International Version and author of commentaries on Acts and 1 & 2 Thessalonians. His magnum opus was Paul’s Metaphors, a study of Pauline metaphors in their first-century contexts.
David was born on 29 October 1933 in Perth. He described himself as an example of what happens when the philosophy behind church schools actually works. It was at Perth’s Hale School, founded by the evangelical Bishop Mathew Hale, that David came under the influence of the Crusaders movement and was converted to Christ. During his first Crusaders’ camp at Bickley Hills he heard the Good News of Christ explained by his tent leader and responded to his invitation to pray to accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord. David was thirteen. He went on to be an active member of St Margaret’s Anglican Church Nedlands and the Church Missionary Society’s League of Youth.
David worked in a bank for four years, during which time the seed of the idea of entering the ordained ministry grew. In 1955 he became a candidate for ordination with the Anglican Diocese of Perth and, following other League of Youth members, came to Melbourne to study at the evangelical Ridley College with his wife Audrey. He would remain in Melbourne and at Ridley for the rest of his working life.
David entered Ridley when the dynamic Stuart Barton Babbage was principal and part-time Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral. It was Babbage who pressed David into being ordained for the Diocese of Melbourne and organised an ‘odd-bods’ ordination by Frank Woods in the middle of 1959. David was appointed an honorary assistant curate at St Michael’s North Carlton and started tutoring New Testament Greek at Ridley straight away. He would continue imparting his love for the New Testament across another four decades’ worth of students.
Also at Ridley at the time were Leon Morris and Frank Andersen, two other notable biblical scholars encouraged by Babbage. David, like them, was encouraged to pursue further studies, earning his PhD in 1967 alongside several other degrees from The University of Melbourne and Fuller Theological Seminary. His stature as a biblical scholar was recognised when he was selected to serve on the translation committee for the New International Version of the Bible.
Morale was low at Ridley at the departure of Babbage from Melbourne. Leon Morris was appointed principal and together with Frank and David, worked to rebuild student numbers and confidence in evangelical faith. On top of his teaching load, David was college registrar from 1960 -72 and librarian from 1971-78. It was David who brought in second-hand army huts to make up for the lack of appropriate teaching rooms and recognised the possibility of securing government funding through having residential college students by affiliation with the University of Melbourne. That funding and generous donors enabled the dining hall and library to be built. David also oversaw the phasing out of the Licentiate of Theology and the introduction of Bachelors and later Masters of Theology degrees, as well as certificate level courses.
David would be embarrassed by this recollection of his achievements. He was a quiet, shy and gentle person concerned with the advancement of the kingdom of God and not at all interested in self-promotion. David’s students remember him as a godly softly-spoken teacher who loved the New Testament and who had an encyclopedic knowledge of the first-century context. He had voluminous folders of careful Greek New Testament translation notes in his office. The publication of Paul’s Metaphor’s shortly after his retirement was a fitting capstone to a lifetime devoted to careful analysis of the biblical text. David was loved for his pastoral heart. He was always there with a genuinely concerned enquiry and ready with a kind word of encouragement. Students, undergraduate and higher up, recall his generous exam hints often prefaced by the remark, “If I were studying for the exams...”.
David was also a faithful pastor, taking charge of several parishes when Ridley’s fortunes meant that it was sometimes necessary for lecturers to find other part-time employment. His pastorate at St Michael’s North Carlton from 1974-81 is remembered as a period of renewal and growth. According to David it was mainly an accident of changing demographics. However the reality was that the parish was on the brink of closure when he arrived. It was his biblical preaching and David and Audrey’s loving pastoral care that attracted, nurtured and retained the young families of the area, setting the course for the parish’s healthy development up to this day.
David was acting principal of Ridley on no less than 6 occasions. He once applied, unsuccessfully, for the job but readily admitted that God made the right appointment. Typically self-effacing, David commented that Maurice Betteridge was exactly what the College needed after Leon Morris. It was Betteridge who appointed him Vice-Principal, a post he held from 1982 until his retirement in 1998. He remained active, teaching and deputizing for Ridley up to 2004.
Although David and Audrey lived at or around Ridley over four decades, they made their home at a country property in Bullengarook, outside Gisborne, where they enjoyed growing their own produce and providing generous hospitality. Generations of Ridley students recall picnics on the ground, and weekends away to study the Bible and pray together in a relaxed setting. They hosted a college missions team event there in 2005.
In late 2007 David was diagnosed with cancer. Audrey and David enjoyed a Ridley study tour to Israel that summer. David was called home to the Lord from Bullengarook in the evening of 15 May 2008. He is survived by Audrey and three sons, Michael, Peter, and Stephen; two of whom have followed David into paid Christian work. David John Williams exemplified the gospel that he preached and taught to generations of Ridley students, who in turn have and are still serving the Lord Jesus Christ across Melbourne, Australia and indeed the world.
