Nijay reviews a bit of the Festschrift in honor of Graham Stanton, Jesus, Matthew’s Gospel and Early Christianity: Studies in Memory of Graham N. Stanton (ed. D.M. Gurtner, J. Willitts, and R. Burridge; T & T Clark, 2011). One extended quotation stands out to me where Burridge recounts his Viva before Stanton:
It was going alright until about half-way through when Graham said, “Well, we had better talk about the bit where you take my new book to the cleaners. What would you say if I said, a, b, or c?”, referring to the features which he thought must have puzzled ancient readers. I replied with some points from my thesis, to which he just said, “Yes, you’re right, I’m wrong and I’ll put it right in the next edition,” and moved on to the next question on his list! In that instant, I learned that an internationally leading scholar’s humility could be even more extraordinary than his intellectual ability and research. (13)
Exemplary!