The Passing of Revd Dr Owen E Evans

It is with deepest sympathy that the School of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences notes the passing of Revd Dr Owen E Evans.

Revd Dr Owen E Evans was appointed as Lecturer in the Department of Biblical Studies (as it then was) in 1969, having previously held a Chair for 16 years at Hartley Victoria College in Manchester. At Bangor University he was appointed initially to teach the New Testament, primarily through the medium of Welsh.

He was instrumental in the work of translating the New Welsh Bible, which appeared in 1988 to coincide with the fourth centenary of the appearance of the first Bible in Welsh in 1588. He was appointed Chair of the New Testament Panel in 1963 and Director of the New Welsh Bible in 1974. The newly translated version of the New Testament appeared in 1975, but the panel continued to meet on a regular basis, both in order to revise the translation and to translate the Apocrypha.

In recognition of his important contribution he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity by the University of Wales in 1988 and elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. 

Dr Evans retired in 1988 and I edited a Festschrift in his honour (Efrydiau Beiblaidd Bangor 4, Gwasg Gee, 1988), which contains chapters primarily on biblical topics by his colleagues in the Department and a complete list of his academic publications.

Owen Evans passed away on October 31^st 2018, aged 97.

Eryl W Davies

Publication date: 5 November 2018