In Loving Memory of Paul Franz Bork, Ph.D.

Biblical archaeologist, Old Testament scholar, pastor and university professor Paul Franz Bork, Ph.D., was remembered in a memorial service held in the fellowship hall of Loma Linda University Church on Monday, Feb. 9. Born Jan. 8, 1924, in Cristina, Minas Gerais, Brazil, to German immigrants Max and Helene Bork, young Paulo Bork (as he was called before changing his name to Paul) enjoyed the company of his brother, Joao, and sisters Lydia and Ruth, all of whom are now deceased. Following his education at Brazilian Adventist College (known today as Central Adventist University), Bork moved to the United States to continue his studies. He received a B.A. degree from Pacific Union College in Angwin, California, in 1950, and an M.A. in church history from the Adventist Theological Seminary, which was then located in Takoma Park, a suburb of Washington, D.C., in 1951. That same year, he met and married Norma Koester, a speech major at a nearby college. She is known today as Norma Bork, Ph.D., a retired university professor, author, and businesswoman. The couple’s two sons – Paul Kevin and Terry Alan – were born in 1955 and 1957, respectively. Paul Kevin Bork works at Loma Linda University Medical Center as a patient transporter, currently on medical leave. The Honorable Terry A. Bork, J.D., is judge of the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles. Following graduation, Paul F. Bork, M.A., worked as an Adventist pastor in New York and New England before returning to graduate school in 1959, graduating in 1960 with an M.Div. from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. In 1960, he moved the family to the Inland Empire where he taught Bible and German at Loma Linda Academy from 1960 to 1967, and served as part-time staff pastor at Loma Linda University Church from 1961 to 1966. In that year, the Borks returned to Pacific Union College where he taught Old Testament religion and biblical archaeology. While still teaching there, he received a Ph.D. from the California Graduate School of Theology in 1971. Bork spent the majority of his career at Pacific Union College, developing a reputation as a prominent archaeologist and conducting research in Israel, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Greece, and Italy. From 1971 to 1975, under a Ford Foundation grant, he conducted an excavation of Tel Gezer, a Philistine city in Israel, which was burned by Egyptian soldiers before being given as a present to Pharaoh’s daughter who married King Solomon. Other prominent digs included a study of the walls and gates of Jerusalem throughout the various centuries of the city’s history, and a major excavation called “The City of David,” which was sponsored by the Israel Department of Antiquities. In addition to his studies of the biblical world, Bork also researched the Mayan civilization in Mexico and Guatemala. Driven by a powerful conviction that archaeology could provide answers to the challenges to the Christian faith that were originating from the fields of higher criticism and existentialism, Bork took additional postgraduate studies at such prestigious institutions as Pacific School of Religion at the University of California at Berkeley, London University, and the University of Jerusalem. With his seemingly insatiable appetite for both archaeology and education, Bork founded the Jerusalem extension school sponsored by Pacific Union College in 1987, and was appointed chairman of the department of religion at the College that same year. Throughout his prolific and fascinating career, Bork published numerous articles in a wide variety of archeological and theological publications, and authored two books: The World of Moses, and Out of the City, Across the Sands. Following his retirement from teaching in 1989, Bork continued to travel extensively, teaching and conducting seminars on archaeology and Old Testament studies at a variety of locations. He and Norma relocated to Loma Linda in 1998, where he volunteered the Ellen G. White Estate Research Center at Loma Linda University. An unexpected highlight of his career occurred in 2010 when Central Adventist University, his original alma mater, opened the only known biblical archaeological museum in the entire country of Brazil and dedicating the Paulo Bork Biblical Archaeology Museum in his honor. After the dedication of the museum, Bork spoke excitedly to a reporter about the summation of his beloved lifework and career. “I taught hundreds of students in biblical archaeology classes at Pacific Union College,” he says. “I took many, many students, church members and pastors to the sites of archaeological digs in which I was involved in the Middle East. Archaeology became a lifetime fascination for many of these individuals. Many still call or email to talk with me about what they saw. Many others tell me, ‘I’ve always wanted to do that.’” Bork passed away on Jan. 24, 2015, at Loma Linda University Medical Center following a fall at his home in Loma Linda. He is survived by: his wife Norma J. Bork, PhD; son Paul Kevin Bork and his wife, Susan; the Honorable Terry A. Bork, JD, and his wife, Jane Bork, M.D., and their children Katherine Jane Bork and Paul Francis Maxwell Bork. Paul F. Bork, Ph.D., was 91 years old.