Biblical scholar and teacher at Deerfield divinity school
Walter L. Liefeld was one of the first three full-time faculty members at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, where he taught classes on the New Testament for 31 years.
“He was the ultimate relational professor — with students, with colleagues, with administration,” said Scot McKnight, a New Testament professor at Northern Seminary in Lisle. “He did not want to control, but instead offered wisdom to those with humility to listen.”
Liefeld, 96, died of natural causes on Nov. 13 while in hospice at a long-term care center in Elmhurst, said his daughter Beverly Hancock.
Born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, Liefeld attended New York University and the former National Bible Institute, a Bible college in New Jersey, where he earned a Bachelor of Theology in Bible in 1948. He went on to pick up a master’s degree in Greek and Latin from Columbia University in New York in 1951 and a Ph.D. in Hellenistic religions from Columbia in 1967.
Liefeld taught Greek at National Bible Institute after it was renamed Shelton College, and also was a pastor at several churches on Long Island. He was a staff member for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship from 1951 until 1954.
In 1963, Liefeld took a teaching post at Trinity. He went on to chair the school’s New Testament department and served for a time as its interim dean. He later taught classes at Tyndale Theological Seminary in the Netherlands, and was the seminary’s interim president from 2000 until 2002.
McKnight, who was a student of Liefeld’s and then a colleague at Trinity, said Liefeld was an avuncular sort, likening him to children’s TV host Fred Rogers.
“On the first day, I watched and said to myself, ‘This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’ I have been a professor for 41 years, and I am a professor because of the influence and model of Walt Liefeld,” McKnight said.
Doug Moo, a former student and later a colleague, noted that Liefeld’s pastoral characteristics led him to focus on students’ well-being.
“Walt was a good teacher and certainly had the ability to contribute to scholarly articles in the academy,” Moo said. “But he chose to focus on student needs, meeting one-on-one with men and women who were going through various struggles. Some faculty, by virtue of their writing, drew students to Trinity. Walt was one of those faculty members who kept students at Trinity.”
Liefeld wrote numerous books and Bible commentaries. In 1984, he wrote a book for pastors titled “New Testament Exposition: From Text to Sermon.”
“He was a thoroughgoing scholar in his discipline as his writings will attest. Yet he never allowed academia — notably the ‘publish or perish’ pressure — to overwhelm his desire to see the gospel made clear to everyone, and to nurture spiritual growth in others,” said Linda Cannell, a former Trinity professor.
One of Liefeld’s key areas of scholarship involved women in Christian leadership. With a colleague, Ruth Tucker, he co-authored a 1987 book, “Daughters of the Church,” which explored what they felt were the underappreciated roles of women in Christian theology, movements and growth, dating back 2,000 years.
“Walt had the courage to stand up for women in a culture that suppressed the gift of women,” McKnight said. “He had the foresight to co-author with Ruth Tucker a book that has had a long, good and influential life about women in the Bible and church.”
Cannell called Liefeld “an untiring supporter of women in leadership and ministry.”
From 1991 until 1996, Liefeld served as senior pastor of Christ Church in Lake Forest and he later became its permanent senior pastor.
Liefeld also served as a trustee for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA.
“Walter was extremely insightful. He could read a complex situation and bring clarity,” said former InterVarsity Christian Fellowship President Alec Hill. “He loved both truth and people. His sense of mission was always yoked in tandem with compassion and gentleness.”
In addition to his daughter, Liefeld is survived by his wife of 64 years, Olive; a son, David; another daughter, Holly Nunn; and seven grandchildren.
Services were held.