Thanks to Walter for this affirmation. Wink’s contribution was indeed enormous in my view and, in the end, well-received. After he was denied tenure, however, he could not find a job in the academy. I know it was a painful time for him.
In his autobiography Just Jesus, Wink writes, “Since that book [The Bible in Human Transformation] had also incensed large numbers of other biblical scholars elsewhere, I found myself young, virtually blacklisted—and unemployed. One fellow scholar, when I introduced myself, said, ‘Oh yes, I read your book; I disagree with everything you say.’ Another simply turned his back on me. Such behaviors (and there were others) opened old wounds of rejection. I stopped going to scholarly meetings for five years until the reverberations of the storeroom rejection receded. But it took a lot of work.”
Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback!