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Father Walter Vogels, missionary to Africa (White Fathers) and exegete, died on January 7, 2026, in Antwerp (Belgium) at the age of 93. Throughout a long life devoted to the Word of God, he combined rigorous philological work with pastoral attention to the "voices ." As a contributor to the NRT, we pay tribute to him.
Ordained a priest in 1957 for the Society of African Missionaries, he exercised his ministry and pursued his research in Italy, Canada, and Belgium.
Walter Vogels' career spanned nearly seven decades of biblical teaching and transmission. It began in Rome, where he began studying theology and the Bible in 1957. In 1960, he left for Eastview, Canada, where he was hired as a professor at the scholasticate. This teaching career was confirmed in 1966: he taught while maintaining ties with both Eastview and Saint Paul University. He then took a decisive academic step forward when he obtained a doctorate in theology in Ottawa on May 15, 1968. On September 1, 1968, he became a full-time professor at Saint Paul University in Ottawa.
After a long period of academic work, he gave a series of lectures in Africa beginning in 1988. In the 2000s, he began leading Bible study sessions outside the university.
On September 1, 2016, Walter Vogels moved to Antwerp, Belgium, where he continued to lead Bible study sessions. He remained there until his death on January 7, 2026, at the age of 93.
His academic roots were firmly planted at Saint Paul University (Ottawa), where he taught the Old Testament. His style of exegesis was shaped by “text pedagogy”: learning to read pericopes in their composition, to reveal the narrative, rhetorical, and theological logic, and to assess how an interpretive tradition (Jewish and Christian) works with the letter.
I Serving the received text
What is striking when reading his contributions (particularly in the NRT) is a consistent ethic of reading: the biblical text is not a pretext for a thesis, it is a partner; it resists, it surprises, and it educates the reader to a patient intelligence—even where we thought we already possessed “the meaning.” This stance is particularly well suited to the genre of “portrait of a reader of Scripture”: for Vogels, reading becomes an act of fidelity, not only to Tradition, but to the dynamic of the biblical word itself. Indeed, methodologically, Father Vogels practiced a sober, reasoned, and pedagogical exegesis: he proceeded by units, by clues, by structures, and allowed the text to move the reader. Perhaps we can keep his warnings in mind.
The “structural approach” can be of great service to exegesis today, precisely because it starts from a simple gesture: taking the final text seriously. Not as an unfortunate editorial compromise, but as a work, a discourse that organizes relationships (sequences, contrasts, repetitions, symmetries, shifts) and thereby produces meaning. It thus avoids two opposing reductions: the “archaeological” reduction, which sees only hypothetical strata; and the “edifying” reduction, which paraphrases the text without questioning its own logic.
Because it works on the final text, the structural approach naturally fits in with a canonical reading: it favors a unitary vision (at least on the literary and theological level), without requiring that this unity be historical or genetic from the outset. In other words, unity is not primarily a dogmatic thesis; it is a given of reading: the text has been transmitted in this form, and it is in this form that it has carried meaning. Before explaining, we must know what is there, how it is arranged, and what effect of meaning is produced.
This is why the approach mastered by Walter Vogels is so valuable in today's pluralistic methodological landscape of exegesis: we can thank Professor Vogels for providing this common, readable, and verifiable foundation on which different readings can engage in dialogue.
Some of W. Vogels' works in recent decades:
Le petit reste dans la Bible (The Little Remnant in the Bible), Cerf, 2018
Célébration et sainteté. Le Lévitique (Celebration and Holiness: Leviticus), Cerf, 2015
Élie et ses fioretti. 1 Rois 16,29 – 2 Rois 2,18 (Elijah and His Fioretti: 1 Kings 16:29 – 2 Kings 2:18), Cerf, 2013
Abraham “our father”, Cerf, 2010
The prophets, Lumen Vitae, 2008
Biblical Human Failures: Lot, Samson, Saul, Jonah, Judas, Novalis, 2007
Samson. Sex, Violence, and Religion. Judges 13–16, Lumen Vitae, 2006. The Exodus: A Rite of Passage, MNH, 2005. Abraham and His Legend. Genesis 12:1–25:11, Éditions Médiaspaul, 1998
Job, the man who spoke well of God, Cerf, 1995
II Nine articles in the NRT
Walter Vogels left nine articles in the NRT. These texts form a remarkably homogeneous whole, which can be read as a short treatise on “structural biblical reading”: he highlights how the call establishes the prophet, how the disappearance of the word is already a judgment, and how the community must exercise discernment. Genesis 2–4 is read as a drama of fundamental relationships (with God, with others, with the earth), where transgression produces discord, violence, and the disfigurement of the person. Ecclesiastes becomes a laboratory where the question of human “profit” is clarified; criticism of performance opens up an uncluttered wisdom. The exegete takes on the theological knots—the suffering of the righteous, violence, sexuality, shame, curse—by constantly returning to the textual devices (structure, progression, repetitions, implications).
“The stories of the prophets' calling” (NRT 95-1 [1973], pp. 3–24)
This article proposes a typology of prophetic calling narratives and highlights recurring scenarios (divine initiative, objection, sign, mission). These literary constants are not mere stereotypes: they construct a prophetic identity in the service of a message addressed to a people.
“The prophets used several types of vocation to communicate to us this intimate encounter with God that changed their lives.” (p. 4)
“How can we discern an authentic prophet?” (NRT 99-5 [1977], pp. 681–701)
Vogels examines the biblical and ecclesial criteria for discernment: the place of Tradition, communal reception, and scriptural “tests.” He avoids reducing authenticity to mechanical conformity and emphasizes the need for spiritual judgment, exercised in the Church and tested by Scripture.
“But generally speaking, discernment will be needed to grasp what is essential to tradition. Are there elements that are unchanging and others that are subject to change...?” (p. 688)
"Hosea: Gomer, for and like Yahweh Israel! (Hos 1–3)" (NRT 103-5 [1981], pp. 711–727)
Close reading of Hos 1–3: articulation between prophetic gesture, marital drama, and theological significance. The text is followed as a montage of orders, signs, and interpretations that make heard, in the very discontinuity of the discourse, the violence and truth of the Covenant.
“We opt for a synchronic reading of the text. We take it as it is in our hands. The reconstructions proposed by diachronic readings remain rather hypothetical and are not satisfactory. One thing seems beyond dispute, and that is that we now have this text.” (p. 713)
“There will be no more prophets!” (NRT 101-6 [1979], pp. 844–859)
Based on Amos 8:11-12, the article develops a theology of the “famine of the word.” The cessation of prophecy is understood as punishment, but also as revelation: when the word is lacking, its value becomes apparent, and the spiritual history of a people is measured by its relationship to this word, whether received or rejected.
"Amos is not the only prophet to announce the absence of prophecy as divine punishment. " (p. 848)
“Job spoke correctly. A structural approach to the Book of Job” (NRT 102-6 [1980], pp. 835–852)
Vogels reads Job based on its composition: prologue, cycles of discourse, shift to the dénouement. The structure highlights the function of the interlocutors, the evolution of the debate, and the significance of the final statement about Job, which can only be grasped by respecting the architecture of the book.
"After blind acceptance of suffering in faith come doubts and the search for theoretical answers. Faced with the inadequacy of these, man turns to God in prayer. Many will be inspired by the charismatic movement, and some will find peace in silent mystical contemplation. “ (p. 852)
”Human beings belong to the soil (Genesis 2:4b–3:24) " (NRT 105-4 [1983], pp. 515–534)
Genesis 2–3 is read as relational anthropology: the earth (’adâmâh), limits, divine speech, and otherness structure humanity. The Fall appears as a rejection of limits and a disruption of desire, with its effects on foundational relationships (God, the other, the world).
"We can say that the Pentateuch is composed of four traditions, but is there not also unity in this great whole21? The book of Genesis is a collection of different narratives, but they now form a unity. Until very recently, it was thought that the story of the flood could only be understood through a diachronic approach, separating the J narrative from the P narrative. Some recent studies emphasize the perfect unity of the current story of the flood." (p. 522)
"Cain: the human being who becomes a non-person (Genesis 4:1-16) " (NRT 114-3 [1992], pp. 321–340)
Narrative reading and reception history: fratricide is described as the collapse of otherness. The article follows the shifts in interpretation (text, traditions, rationalizations) and returns to the biblical dynamic of the “face” and responsibility, where violence gradually disfigures the subject.
“Cain is accused of avarice: he gave the minimum required, while Abel offered the best...” (p. 324)
“Vain performance and healthy performance in Ecclesiastes” (NRT 113-3 [1991], pp. 363–385)
Ecclesiastes is reinterpreted as a critique of existential performance: “performance” (work, success, mastery) is questioned in terms of its real “benefit.” Vogels reveals a sober, lucid wisdom that neither sanctifies effort nor results, and deconstructs the illusions of accumulation.
“Qohélet's question concerns the reward, the profit, of performance, the hard work of man.” (p. 372)
"Ham discovers the limits of his father Noah (Genesis 9:20-27) " (NRT 109-4 [1987], pp. 554–573)
Critical examination of hypotheses (sexualization of the narrative, reconstructions): Vogels returns to the sobriety of the text and works on the gap between what is said (“see,” ‘inform’) and what is projected. The scene becomes a reflection on vulnerability, shame, and how to “inhabit” the boundaries of others.
“What Ham did was to reveal Noah's limits and in this way he exposed him further, while Shem and Japheth covered him.” (p. 570)
Thank you to Father Vogels for helping so many generations of biblical students to serve the biblical text by allowing themselves to be challenged by the Word!
Alban Massie, S.J.
Director of the NRT