Known as general editor of The Ryrie Study Bible, Dr. Charles Caldwell Ryrie died Feb. 16, 2016, as he neared his 91st birthday. Ryrie taught systematic theology at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), then became the longtime dean of doctoral studies until he retired in 1983.
Born in St. Louis in 1925, he grew up in Alton, Illinois. For a time, he attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania and planned to follow his father’s footsteps and become a banker. Instead, he opted to go to DTS after meeting with the school’s founder, Lewis Sperry Chafer, and hearing a ministry call from the Lord, according to an obituary posted by DTS.
After receiving his first master’s degree, he moved to California to teach at Westmont College but later returned to DTS. From 1958-1962, Ryrie served as professor and president at Philadelphia College of Bible, now Cairn University.
Ray Pritchard, author and president of Keep Believing was a student of Ryrie’s and paid the professor a high compliment.
“I think his greatest gift was making abstract ideas understandable,” Pritchard said. “Anyone can make the simple complex. Only the greatest minds can make the complex simple.”
The Ryrie Study Bible (Moody Publishers) has sold more than 2.5 million copies in multiple languages. The author of more than 50 books—Basic Theology, The Bible and Tomorrow’s News, A Survey of Bible Doctrine, Balancing the Christian Life and The Holy Spirit (all Moody)—Ryrie won two Gold Medallion awards from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association for The Miracles of Our Lord and So Great Salvation.
Ryrie was a dispensationalist and was known for rejecting what has been termed “lordship salvation.”
He also took his teaching skills to the local church, regularly teaching Sunday school at First Baptist Church in Dallas, and also enjoyed playing hymns on the piano.
He was the father of three and grandfather of three.
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