Old Testament Library in Puerto Rico

A few thousand of Gene M. Tucker's most reliable and well-worn "friends" have relocated from the rarified Rocky Mountain air of his Denver home to the warm Caribbean breezes that make the palm trees dance in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was more than a seasonal retreat. It marked a new beginning for a treasured collection of books assembled over the past half-century by one of North America's most respected Old Testament scholars.
"These were my old friends with whom I've been living over these five decades, and I had grown very fond of them -- and deeply attached to them," Tucker said of his personal library. "But once I decided I was done with scholarly research and writing, it was time to pass them on somewhere where they could do someone else some good."

Tucker, a widely published academic and a longtime professor of Old Testament at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, had already donated a portion of his library when he connected with the Theological Book Network.

"Some time earlier, I had shipped off about a third of my collection to a Methodist school in Africa," he recalled. "When I met with Kurt (Berends, the Executive Director of the Theological Book Network), we agreed the remaining volumes should be kept together and sent to a seminary where the collection could have a significant impact."

The destination for his donation was not a difficult choice for Tucker. The Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico is one of the largest theological schools in the Caribbean, and one of Tucker's former PhD. students, Dr. Guillermo Ramirez-Munoz, teaches Old Testament on its faculty.

"Gene Tucker's priceless gift to the library and his visit to our campus this past March represented a significant event for our theological community," said Dr. Ramirez-Munoz. "As a former student of his at Emory, I had already introduced my students to his scholarly work and contributions to Old Testament research. Now, our students have access to his books, his personal notes and commentaries that he developed throughout his rich academic career. We are more than grateful to Dr. Tucker and the Theological Book Network for their extraordinary support to our Juan de Valdes library and our community."

The Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico was founded in 1919 and serves Protestant churches throughout the Caribbean. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA, but its roots also include Methodist, Baptist and Disciples of Christ connections. The student body exceeds 250.

"It was at the top of my list," said Tucker. "I was aware that it is the most significant seminary in the region -- it's a really impressive little school. It's a jewel of a library, and my collection was by no means the first gift of a personal library the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico had received."

Many gifts have come from graduates of the seminary who have gone on to distinguished pastoral or academic careers, but the seminary also is the repository for the books collected by Harry Emerson Fosdick, a central figure in the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversies in the first decades of the 20th Century and a celebrated preacher who served as the first senior minister of New York City's Riverside Church. He donated the bulk of his personal library, about 1,400 volumes, to the seminary in Puerto Rico.

Tucker's collection included 3,000 volumes and reflected the breadth and depth of his scholarly work as a professor and widely published author and contributor to theological journals and books.

Dr. Jose R. Irizarry, the academic dean at the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico, noted that Tucker's gift through the Theological Book Network has "greatly enhanced the warehouse of biblical knowledge from which our students nurture their capacity to do exegetical, homiletic, and theological reflection."

Added Dr. Irizarry: "The staff at the Juan de Valdes Library has worked expediently to catalogue the collection and has placed the material in the hands of our users. Dr. Tucker's visit to the Seminary to inaugurate the Collection was celebrated by faculty, staff, and students who had the opportunity to listen to his lectures and who were able to engage with him in dialogue about new perspectives of research in Old Testament interpretation. His reading of the Genesis narrative in relation to present concerns on environmental ethics still buzzes in student's course conversations as the preservation of natural resources and the protection of the ecology is of high importance in the ministerial context of the island."

Dr. Irizarry concluded with praise for the work of the Theological Book Network, pointing out that it "facilitated receiving this gift through effective communication and expedient follow-up in the process of collecting, packing, and delivering the book collection. The invitation they extended to strengthen our library resources, with books they could add to the Tucker's library shipment, was enthusiastically welcomed by the faculty who asked to enhance our library offerings in the fields of social ethics, feminist theology, religious psychology and cultural studies in religion. When (they) told us that this donation will require us to identity other seminaries on the island which could benefit of the same type of donation, they not only demonstrated they carry out their work as a deliberate form of ministry, but invited us to strengthen relations with other institutions. Today, we are engaging the other schools who received (network) donations in creating joint projects and new programs."

Born in West Texas and a graduate of McMurry College in his home state, Tucker earned a bachelor of divinity degree, as well as his master's and doctorate from Yale University. He taught at the University of Southern California and at the Duke Divinity School before joining the faculty at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, where he served for 25 years until his retirement in 1995.

Tucker continued scholarly writing and lecturing for another decade or so beyond his retirement date, but said his familiarity with biblical wisdom prompted him to take a different path as he approached the age of 75.

"Those of us who are well-acquainted with the Old Testament believe in finitude," said Tucker. "It was time for me to face the facts. You can't be a theologian forever. That was a real turning point for me. I decided I was not going to do serious scholarly work any longer. I have writing to do on fishing and hunting and family." Even as he earnestly seeks a trout trophy or two in one of Colorado's sparkling rivers, Tucker can happily reflect on the extended life and significance his old "friends" are enjoying in the Caribbean.

"It's pleasing to think that I will be connected to that school in Puerto Rico in perpetuity," he said. "That's another heritage beyond my publications and the students I have taught. Those books will be useful for generations. They are valuable now for current theological thought, and then in decades beyond for historical reasons."

Tucker has become a strong advocate for the work of the Theological Book Network through this experience.

"When I was at a SBL (Society for Biblical Literature) meeting last last year, I was speaking to friends and colleagues who have decent collections and connecting them with the network," said Tucker. "I'm telling everyone I know, if you don't do it now, make a provision in your will. The value of doing it now is you can see where your books are going, and see the good it does."

Tucker travelled with his wife, Charlyne, to San Juan earlier this spring to give a few lectures at the seminary and to meet the school's faculty and students. "It was a mountaintop experience for us," he said. "The seminary arranged for a ceremony to acknowledge the acceptance of the gift of the library and then they put on a lovely reception. We were overwhelmed by how grateful they are, and how useful this gift really is." The Theological Book Network's Executive Director Berends hopes that many others will follow Tucker's lead.

"Like Gene, there are many scholars who spend a lifetime building a personal library -- and the collections they amass encompass not only books and journals necessary to keep them current in their field of study, but also contain materials central to an individual's particular area or areas of focused research," said Berends. "A scholarly collection of this scope is invaluable to institutions in the developing world. A single scholar's library often has the capacity to provide an institution with sufficient materials that not only sustain teaching activities, but make serious research for the church a real possibility. In fact, a scholar's library often ends up equipping the beneficiary with the kind of collection that is unsurpassed in a country. It truly is a gift that will have a lasting impact for the church."