In Memoriam - Bruce Vawter, CM

Rev. F. Bruce Vawter, 65, a Vincentian priest and a Scripture scholar, was chairman of De Paul University`s department of religious studies from 1969 until last June. He was an expert on both the New and the Old Testaments and the author of several books on both.

A memorial mass for Father Vawter, a member of the Congregation of the Missions (the Vincentians), will be offered at 5 p.m. Thursday in St. Vincent`s Catholic Church, 1010 W. Webster Ave. He died Monday in St. Joseph`s Hospital following a long illness.

His most recent book was ``Job and Jonah: Questioning the Hidden God`` (Paulist Press, 1983). In it, he wrote: ``The biblical message is meant not only to console but to challenge and provoke. If one reads the Bible only to find comfort and consolation in fixed positions, the meaning of the Bible has been missed. Some Bible-Christians misunderstand the Bible precisely in this way. They search it for confirmation in their prejudices rather than for a summons to re-examine their premises.``

Father Vawter, a native of Ft. Worth, joined the Vincentians in 1942. He was ordained in 1947. A Fulbright scholar, he studied at Eberhard University in Tubingen, West Germany, after receiving a doctorate in sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. Before coming to De Paul University, he taught at Kendrick Seminary in St. Louis, St. Thomas Seminary in Denver and St. Mary`s Seminary in Perryville, Mo. He was also a visiting professor at Vanderbilt University and at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. Among the books he wrote besides ``Job and Jonah`` were ``The Path of Wisdom,`` ``Amos, Hosea, Micah: With an Introduction to Classical Prophecy`` and ``On Genesis.`` He also edited all the work issued by the Catholic Biblical Association of America and was editor of ``Old Testament Abstracts.``

Chicago Tribune, December 3, 1986