An Anecdote about C.K. Barrett

Ann and I with the Barretts, Penelope and Martin, the children of CKB at the celebration of his centenary in Durham, England.

In the recent and enjoyable collection of testimonies entitled I Still Believe Morna Hooker, one of Barrett’s students, as was I tells the following revealing tale—-

“It was while I was teaching at King’s that I found myself escorting my old friend Professor Barrett, who had come to lecture at the College, through the courtyard. Old buildings on the Strand were being demolished to make way for a grand new wing, and as we looked up, we saw the figures of demolition workers outlined against the sky. They appeared to be standing precariously on the remains of a wall, hacking away at the bricks under their feet, “Tell me,” remarked Professor Barrett, “do they remind you of New Testament scholars?”