(CW: Child exploitation).
It turns out that at least two scholars whose work is closely related to my own were men of dubious character. Richard Pervo authored Dating Acts, a very influential monograph on when Acts was written; and he was also a prolific consumer of child pornography. (Yes, his name really is Pervo. This actually played an interesting role in his arrest). For his part, E. Earle Ellis wrote The Making of the New Testament Documents, which aims explicitly to build upon the chronological foundation laid out in J.A.T. Robinson's Redating the New Testament, a foundation that is close to (although not identical with) that which I advance in my own forthcoming volume, Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament; Ellis also wrote in defense of segregation (cf. my prior discussion of this defense), and as late as 1999 sung the praises of his great-grandfather, a Confederate soldier from a slave-owning family (you can read this paean on p. xvi of Making of the Documents of the New Testament itself, conveniently available online through Google Books).
It used to be that we'd hear these sort of stories and shrug. We'd say that their character and their scholarship are logically independent variables. And of course, there is some degree of truth to this. One need not be a pedophile to hold that Acts was written in the second century. There is no necessary relationship between these two variables. I know others who hold such a position, and not only respect them as scholars but also know them to be good and decent folk. Likewise, one need not be a segregationist lionizing a man who fought for the Confederacy to think that the New Testament was largely written somewhat earlier than do the majority of New Testament scholars. But it misses another dimension. For fifteen years after his conviction for possessing child pornography, Pervo remained an active member of the Westar Institute, which published and continues to sell his Dating Acts. He wrote the Hermeneia commentary on Acts. He was honoured with a Festschrift. Upon his passing in 2017, he was honoured with a glowing obituary on the Society of Biblical Literature website (which was wisely removed in 2020, during the fall-out from Jan Joosten's conviction for possession of child pornography). Now, imagine that during all the years that Pervo was being published, feted, and praised, you happened to be a student or scholar of New Testament who was a survivor of childhood exploitation? Imagine if you knew that possibly you were in one of the many images that Pervo consumed? Imagine that for a moment.
For his part, Ellis was never convicted of a crime. Indeed, there is as far as I know little if any evidence that he ever did anything illegal. But the fact that it isn't illegal to defend segregation hardly makes it good. He was perhaps law-abiding, but that doesn't mean that he was fine and upstanding. He certainly defended things that no decent person could defend, and continued to be honoured by others throughout his life—with appointments, Festschrifts, etc. Indeed, in some ways the situation is worse, because as far as I can tell he was able to escape consequences throughout his life for endorsing segregation and his reputation remains largely intact—whereas at least the justice system (if not academia) held Pervo to account, and his legacy has undergone a fair amount of scrutiny over the last couple of years. But again, imagine you're a Black student or scholar, reading Ellis' defense of segregation and also reading one of the many works that he published? Imagine being a Black member of the Institute for Biblical Research, and knowing that it was founded by E. Earle Ellis and still has close ties with the E. Earle Ellis Foundation? Imagine being a Black Southern Baptist, and knowing that your denomination's official press lauded Ellis upon his death in 2010 for his "conservative views"—and also knowing that these views included the defense of segregation? Imagine that.
Pervo argues that Acts was written well into the second century. I disagree. I think that a date ca. 62–63 is better supported by the data. By contrast—and as noted above—Ellis' own preferred chronology for the composition of the New Testament documents is close to my own. If I were to act wholly from narrow self-interest, I would want to emphasize Pervo's sins while minimizing Ellis'. But values are more important than narrow self-interest, and no one with their values in proper order turns a blind eye to either the exploitation of children or the defense of racial segregation. When a given ancient text was written pales in significance next to this basic moral datum.
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