Charlie (C.F.D.) Moule dies at age 98

I was saddened to read today in The Telegraph of the death of the Reverend Professor C.F.D. Moule. I correspondended briefly with Prof. Moule last year after contacting for permission to use his Ethel M. Wood lecture, which is mentioned in Telegraph obituary:

Rev. Canon C.F.D. Moule, Man and Nature in the New Testament. Some Reflections on Biblical Ecology. The Ethel M. Wood Lecture delivered before the University of London on 9 March 1964. London: The Athlone Press, 1964. Pbk. pp.22.

I am sure that he would not mind me sharing the contents of his second letter of 7th July:

Dear Mr Bradshaw,

Thank you for your letter of 5 July and for taking the trouble to follow-up my remark. I that that of all my books there are 3 I would venture to think not to have been superseded and out-dated; but, on further reflection, I believe that two are in fact in print. (My uncertainty and vagueness are due to the fact that, at 97 1/2, I am severely restricted in movement and almost bereft of books, and so unable to check up on the facts; but perhaps you may have means of ascertaining details.)

(1) The Origin of Christology (C.U.P.,? 1977; out of print).

(2) The Birth of the New Testament, 3rd revised edition (A. & C. Black [or perhaps another publisher, A. & C. Black puvlished 1st & 2nd editions]), about 1981. In print.

(3) The Holy Spirit went out of print from its original publishers, but was re-issued about 4 or 5 years ago by other publishers, using, I think, simply photographic reproduction.

If any of this is worth following up, I hope you might find the information, one way or another; and perhaps you will kindly let me know any proposal you may have.

Yours sincerely,

Charlie Moule

P.S. My concern for the Origin of Christology is that I am not aware of another book which assembles so much detail to refute the popular but (I believe) totally worthless theory that a 'high' Christology was reached by the enthusiastic exaggerations of imagination. I try to show that a 'high' Christology already existed in our earliest datable source, St. Paul, and is reflected also in sunsequent, but still early, sources.

In my reply, after speaking with his publishers, I was able to reassure Professor Moule that his books would be in-print for many years to come.

I feel privileged to have been able to exchange these brief letters with him.

Professor Moule's article on the Holy Spirit is available on-line here:

C.F.D. Moule, "The Holy Spirit in the Scriptures," Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Biblical and Theological Essays. London: SPCK, 1998. Hbk. ISBN: 0281051399. pp.119-131. = The Church Quarterly, 3 (1971), pp. 279-87.