UNION News

The Rev. Dr. Clive F. Jacks, Th.D. ’66

Categories: Alums in the World

What do you do?

The Rev. Dr. Clive F. Jacks, center, at a recent alumni gathering.

I have lived and ministered up and down the East Coast and retired in 1996, moving back home to enjoy my retirement in the metro Atlanta area. I now live outside the Perimeter but happily close enough to visit Decatur, including Decatur Presbyterian, where I grew up and where I was ordained after being examined by Atlanta Presbytery there as well! My ministry was mostly teaching in various colleges and seminaries and universities, although for a while I did some “stated supply” in three churches in Mecklenburg, now Charlotte, Presbytery. I also did a five-year full-time ministry in a small town church before returning to teaching in the hills of eastern Kentucky. I am happy to be “back home” and enjoying retirement, engaging in massive amounts of little indulgences, which does include continuing my “Bible study” and even attending SBL conferences, where few of my generation now attend!

How did Union prepare you for this?

At the time, I chose “Union” for my graduate degree because while there were other seminaries with excellent faculty in the Biblical Studies fields, I perceived that it had the best combination of OT (Muilenburg, Terrien, and Landes) and NT scholars (Knox, Beker, and Grant, who retired and was replaced by Davies) – what an assembly of talent, one that validated my choice for working with all of them was simply great, as my approach to NT studies was premised upon the assumption that if one wants to understand it then one must know the OT as well as they did!

What is the best thing about your job?

Looking back now in retirement, I find myself simply repeating what I used to say about my “job”; that it was great as it was the only way I knew to continue to be a student (er, scholar!) that was socially acceptable and funded! In fact, I used to also comment that I would most happily have done it “for free” if I were rich enough! So my retirement did not mean that I stopped working on my concerns and interests, even if I no longer have as many others to share with as I used to.

How have you stayed connected to Union?

Other than being on the mailing list and after visiting for a few days long after I graduated, I cannot say that I have done a great job at staying connected.

What would you say to someone considering going to Union?

Since I have been on the outside of things very much these days, I do not know enough of what is going on at Union at this time to be able to have anything helpful to say to such a person.

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