During the first quarter of 2008, Dr. Elmo Scoggin, a beloved member of the First Baptist Church of Raleigh on North Salisbury Street, gave a series of seminars focused primarily on the Old Testament, but frequently making connections to the teachings of Jesus. The transcriptions of these seminars are for sale in a bound book in the church office for $10 (proceeds go to FBC Missions). These transcriptions bring powerful insights into the origins of our faith from an authoritative Hebrew/ Old Testament scholar and Christian. We have now posted videos of these seminars with Dr. Scoggins on the church website.
Elmo Scoggin was Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary for 34 years. His expertise in Hebrew and his joyful but occasionally irascible spirit endeared him to generations of Hebrew students.
He also harbored a deep love for Israel. He and his wife Hannah, who was Jewish, spent four years there in the early 1950s and devoted themselves to being goodwill ambassadors to the Jewish community. Dr. Scoggin worked on 30 archaeological digs in Israel, and hosted hundreds of students and friends on tours of the Holy Land. His 20 seasons of archaeological field experience in the Middle East is represented in the marvelous collection of artifacts on display in the SEBTS library.
Dr. Scoggin was a native of Rutherford County, N.C., where he grew up during the depression. He graduated from Gardner-Webb Junior College (A.A.), Furman University (B.A.), and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Th.M., Ph.D.). He wrote the Commentary on Micah in the Broadman Bible Commentary (1972), numerous articles/essays, and over fifty book reviews. He was pastor of churches in Kentucky, Florida, and Jerusalem. He served as the Raleigh and North Carolina Liaison with the National Council on the Holocaust.
After retiring from Southeastern in the early 1980s, Dr. Scoggin gave himself to another passion: classical music. He volunteered for 25 years or more at WCPE, initially doing mundane chores and ultimately hosting a late night program he called Music in the Night. He lived a quiet life, enjoyed fishing and flying, worked out regularly at the YMCA, devoted himself to Hannah, and served the community as best he could , but never sought recognition. In a 2005 interview with the News and Observer, he said “To aggrandize myself or try to be a star has never appealed to me.”
