The Reverend Dr Andrew Macintosh

Andrew Macintosh (BA 1959) has been a Fellow since 1969. Ordained to a curacy in Lincolnshire, after two years he was appointed to a lectureship at St David’s College, Lampeter (1964). He returned to St John’s in 1967 as Chaplain. A Tutorship followed in 1969 and, where the chapel was concerned, an ad hominem post of Assistant Dean. Following the retirement of Basil Hall in 1979, he was appointed Dean (of Chapel) and Director of Studies in Theology and he held this office until his retirement in 2002. Additionally he was elected President in 1995, serving the customary four year stint.

Within the University he has lectured for some forty years on Hebrew (language and texts) in both the Faculties of Divinity and of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (formerly Oriental Studies). He published a monograph Isaiah xxi: A palimpsest in 1980 (CUP) and a major commentary on the prophet Hosea in 1997 (International Critical Commentary series, T & T Clark). He has a number of articles on Hebrew philology and lexicography in learned journals. A continuing interest is the work of the tenth century Jewish scholar Rabbi Jonah ibn Janah who wrote a dictionary of Hebrew in his native Arabic. The Hosea commentary provides evidence of Hosea’s dialectal register as well as up to date information on recent archaeological and international scholarly opinion. Dr Macintosh was admitted to the D.D. degree in 1997.

Dr Macintosh was the secretary of the translation panel which produced the (modern language) Psalter of the Church of England’s Alternative Service Book of 1980. For some twenty years he has been the guest speaker on expeditions to the Sinai desert organized by Wind, Sand and Stars of which Dr Emma Loveridge (BA 1987) was founder and director.