(Mary) Christine Tetley (nee Anderson) was born in the rural New Zealand town of Warkworth in 1944. Her final High School year was spent at Henderson, Auckland, taking Commercial studies, where she received a prize as the top student academically. For her prize she chose June Opie’s classic book Over My Dead Body, featuring June’s battle with polio. After several years employment and voluntary involvement in the local Baptist church, she undertook evening studies in New Testament Greek. She did well and decided to enroll as a full-time student in 1966 at the NZ Bible Training Institute. Barry Tetley, a qualified watchmaker, entered at the same time, and that year saw the beginning of their lifelong relationship.
They both graduated with honours from NZBTI in 1967, also completing the Licentiate in
Theology under the Melbourne College of Divinity. They were married in 1968 and commenced service in the Philippines with Open Air Campaigners in 1970. By 1973 they had three children who would attend Faith Academy. With helpers taking care of the household duties, Christine had time to indulge her interests in Biblical studies and writing, contributing articles of interest to a national monthly magazine. Later, Christine enrolled at the Asian Theological Seminar in Manila, at first studying Hebrew. This would grow into a full Master of Divinity degree achieved with Honors that would qualify her later to contemplate a Th.D.
Meanwhile Barry’s work led to him to produce and direct a program of evangelism for developing countries. In 2021 it is still operating as SOWERS International. Alongside this, Barry also undertook an M. Div. through ATS.
Barry and Christine both graduated with Honors in 1986, “running away with the top academic grades.” That same year they returned to NZ, where Barry assumed an appointment to the faculty of the Bible College of NZ (formerly NZBTI, and now Laidlaw College) as lecturer and Fieldwork Supervisor. Christine assisted part-time in BCNZ’s library. She established the institution’s archives. And she was able to devote her research interests to the mysterious chronological puzzles of the Hebrew kings. Unpersuaded by current approaches at the time, Christine delved into the
many textual and historical sources that scholarship could provide in addition to the Masoretic Text. She found answers to some puzzles in LXX sources, the Lucianic manuscripts, and the confused transmission of numbers.
Her doctoral thesis was entitled The Reconstructed Chronology of the Divided Kingdom, and she was awarded her Th.D in 2000 by the Australian College of Theology. The citation indicates the nature of the award.
CITATION OF MARY CHRISTINE TETLEY
“Christine Tetley submitted her thesis entitled The Reconstructed Chronology of the Divided Kingdom to the Australian College of Theology for examination. The research contained in the thesis represents the painstaking and meticulous work of the best part of a decade. Based on the Lucianic version of the Greek Bible, the Septuagint, the thesis argues for the historicity of the biblical presentation of the chronology of the kings of Israel and Judah.
“The thesis was examined by three eminent overseas scholars. Indeed, all of them are world figures in Old Testament studies. Dr J. Maxwell Miller, Professor Emeritus of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, Atlanta, concludes his examiner’s report by observing that Mrs Tetley “demonstrates that she can do research in depth, reach
independent conclusions, and explain her position in a clear fashion. She writes rather
well,” he adds.
“Dr T. R. Hobbs of Hamilton, Ontario remarks that the candidate “has employed independent judgment by creating a distance between the traditional views presented, and her own conclusions. It is my opinion,” he concludes, “that the candidate has contributed significantly to the subject matter.”
“Fully aware of the complexities of the available data for reconstructing the chronology of the divided kingdom, Ralph W. Klein of the Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago, highly commends Mrs Tetley. He observes that she has “mastered control of the relevant data and proposed a coherent new chronological system.” He goes on to recommend the early publication of the thesis. The thesis, he remarks, “is well written, comprehensive, and thorough, and will bring honor to Ms Tetley and the Australian College of Theology.” This is highly deserved praise of a kind reserved only for outstanding research.
“Christine Tetley is the first woman to be granted the doctoral degree by thesis in the history of the Australian College of Theology. At the commencement of a new century and a new millennium, Mrs Tetley represents for the College the integration of women as scholars in the awards of the College at the highest levels of academic attainment and the access of women to the highest award in the field of theology the College has to offer. She is one of the first of many Australian and New Zealand women whose gifts and research will be offered to the wider church through successful negotiation of the rigorous academic processes of the College. I present Christine Tetley to you for the award of the award of the degree, Doctor of Theology.”
W. Osborne, Bible College of New Zealand, Auckland, 10 April 2000.
Eisenbrauns published The Reconstructed Chronology of the Divided Kingdom in 2005.
The Divided Kingdom ended with the Fall of Samaria under Assyrian leadership, which compelled Christine to re-examine current assumptions of Assyrian Chronology. The Assyrian Eponym Canon is a single list of assumed rulers and their lengths of reign. It did not have the benefit of the Hebrew record in 1-2 Kings where the reigns of two lines of kings in adjacent kingdoms are recorded in a mutually synchronized format. Connecting and correcting the Israel and Judah chronological lines also enabled Christine to correct several gaps in the Assyrian chronology.
But there was a further historical overlap by which the chronology that she proposed could be validated. In his 20th year Egypt’s Shoshenq I attacked Jerusalem. It was Rehoboam’s 5th year (I Kings 14:25ff). This took Christine into the vast complexities of Egypt’s ancient chronology, which had long attracted the passionate interest of scholars around the world, and is still venue for vast speculation and yet-to-be-proven theorizing.
With Christine’s work completed in the year of her death, 2013, the chronological histories of three adjacent civilizations are brought into full alignment. Her work was based on the best available of evidence, as presented in this work. It has yet to be further validated as time goes by and as further evidence gains confirmation.
Christine and I had three children and nine grandchildren. She mothered a unified family filled with love. Christine and I moved to Whangarei in 2005 when I took up the role of minister of the Onerahi Presbyterian Church. She was greatly loved by the congregation. Apart from occasional presentations in the Eyes and Ears slot of our Sunday services, few people in the congregationknew or appreciated the daily passion that commanded her energy at every available moment.
One of the reasons we selected Whangarei was that we could moor our yacht merely 10 minutes from home. At home, at our nearby mooring, or at a distant anchorage, Trendsetter gave ample time for Christine to consume scores of books, and hundreds of papers from notable Egyptologists, while we steered the way forward together.
It was on my 70th birthday in December 2012 that we told our gathered family that Christine had inoperable cancer. I retired from the church and assisted her in the assembly of her writing for the next seven months. She was happy with the final product, and died at peace. It would be several years before her work was made public, and its reception has been very gratifying. I have sold the boat and moved from Whangarei to a new address in Matamata.
Our joint journey means I understood what she was writing. But don’t think for a moment that I can engage in substantial dialogue on the areas in which she was the expert. She was the expert!
Barry Tetley, January 2021