Honorary Life Members

During the 2024 Business Meeting, CBA Full Members unanimously voted to confer Honorary Life Memberships to Christopher T. Begg and Frank J. Matera in recognition of their noteworthy contributions to biblical studies and to the CBA.

Frank J. Matera “has a broad record of service to the church and the Catholic academic world. After earning his PhD at Union Theological Seminary (1981), he devoted 30 years to teaching at St. John's Seminary in Boston (1982–87) and the Catholic University of America (1988–2012), where he held the post of Andrews-Kelly-Ryan Professor of Biblical Studies in the School of Theology and Religious Studies. Frank generously served CUA in various roles, including as associate chair (1995–98) and then chair (1998–2001) of the CUA Department of Theology, as well as executive council, CAP, the STRS library committee, and many PhD and search committees. In our own association, Frank served as Associate Editor of the CBQ for seven years (1986-93) and as the founding General Editor of the new series, Biblical Studies from the CBA, for seven more years (2015-2022). In addition, he has served on important CBA committees and executive positions, including Consultor to the Executive Board (1993-95), the Nominations Committee (2004-2008), CBA Vice-President (2002-2003), and CBA President (2003-2004). All this while maintaining a regular teaching load and engaging in priestly ministry on the side.”
[Excerpted from the nomination letter accepted by the Executive Board at its Spring 2024 meeting.]

Christopher T. Begg "did his studies of theology and the Old Testament at the University of Louvain, Belgium, where he defended his dissertation for the S.T.D. with an Old Testament concentration in October 1978. He began teaching The Catholic University of America
in 1982, holding The Katharine Drexel Chair in Religious Studies since 2006. In the years 1998 - 2003 he served as a member of the International Theological Commission. His publications include Josephus Account of the Early Divided Monarchy (AJ 8,212-420): Rewriting the Bible (Leuven: Peeters/University Press,
1993) and Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, Volume 4: Judean Antiquities, Books 5-7 (Leiden: Brill, 2004). As General Editor of Old Testament Abstracts, a role he has fulfilled since 1992, Chris shepherded the publication of 94 issues of the journal which is an invaluable resource for scripture scholars. Chris himself produced a significant portion of the abstracts. In addition, Chris has served as Publishing Editor for The Catholic Biblical Quarterly since 1984, reviewing the final proofs for nearly 160 issues of CBA’s signature
journal. "
[Excerpted from the nomination letter accepted by the Executive Board at its Summer 2024 meeting.]