Richard Ivan Pervo (May 11, 1942 – May 19, 2017)[1] was an American biblical scholar, former Episcopal priest, and Fellow of the Westar Institute.[2][3][4] He was best known for his works on the New Testament book of Acts of the Apostles.[5][6] In 2001, Pervo was convicted for possession of child sexual abuse material.[7][8]
Richard I. Pervo | |
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Born | Richard Ivan Pervo May 11, 1942 Lakewood, Ohio, U.S. |
Died | May 19, 2017 Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S. | (aged 75)
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Occupation | Biblical scholar |
Pervo was born in Lakewood, Ohio, the son of Ivan Pervo and Elizabeth Kline. He married Karen E. Moreland on April 2, 1967.[9]
Pervo received his undergraduate degree from Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1964. He received a Bachelor of Divinity at the Episcopal Divinity School of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and earned his Th.D. from Harvard University in 1979.[9] A revised version of his dissertation was published in 1987 as Profit with Delight: The Literary Genre of the Acts of the Apostles.[10]
Pervo died of leukemia in St. Paul, Minnesota on May 19, 2017.[1][9][Note 1]
Pervo taught at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary (1975–1999) and as professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota (1999–2001). He served as an Episcopalian priest until 2003.[3]
A Festschrift in recognition of his scholarship was published posthumously by Mohr Siebeck in late 2017.[11]
In February 2001, Pervo was arrested after investigators found thousands of images of child pornography on his work computer at the University of Minnesota.[12] In May he pleaded guilty to five counts of possession and one count of distribution of child pornography. He was sentenced to one year in a state workhouse and eight years probation.[13][14] He formally resigned from the University of Minnesota as of June 2001, having been suspended since his arrest.[15] After serving his sentence he continued to publish theological works as an independent scholar and Fellow of the Westar Institute,[2] and was recognized as an authority on the canonical and non-canonical books of Acts.[16]