I was very sad to hear, from James Crossley, that Maurice Casey has died.
I greatly enjoyed working with Maurice on his last two books - Jesus of Nazareth: An Independent Historian's View of His Life and Teaching and Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths. He was a generous colleauge, and always concerned to be polite and helpful in his dealings with me.
That said, I was never on the receiving end of Maurice's sometimes rather abrupt prose. Despite the fact that his writing could often be rather colourful, my abiding memory of unedited Casey is that it was always exceptionally well-written, a gift which by no means all possess. Maurice's writing was - is - fun and frequently refreshing to read. Language mattered to Maurice, it was his tool to for telling the truth as he saw it, and frequently his means of discovering this truth. He also had a tremendous sense of fairness. He wanted to be fair in his discussion, even if that sometimes meant he had to take no prisoners.
Maurice had spoken of his wish to write a volume on Christian Origins, which would have been a significant contribution along the lines of Jesus of Nazareth in terms of length and scope. It is a great sadness that he did not get to write this book.
Maurice was a scholar to the last, and I shall miss him.
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