Other Faculty

Crawford Howell Toy

Crawford Howell Toy

David Gordon LyonDavid Gordon Lyon

Edward Caldwell MooreEdward Caldwell Moore

George Foot MooreGeorge Foot Moore

Joseph Henry Thayer

Joseph Henry Thayer

James Hardy RopesJames Hardy Ropes

Ephraim Emerton

Ephraim Emerton

 

Crawford Howell Toy

  • Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages, 1880-1909

Crawford Howell Toy

Born on March 23, 1836, in Norfolk, Virginia, Crawford Howell Toy enjoyed a privileged upbringing. His mother, Amelia Ann (Rogers) Toy, was a granddaughter of a Revolutionary officer. Toy's father, Thomas Dallam Toy, was a respected pharmacist.

After graduating from the University of Virginia in 1856, Toy taught at the Albermarle Female Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. Following this, Toy began studying at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina, a move that started his long association with the first Southern Baptist seminary in the country.

Toy's studies were interrupted by the Civil War, where he first served as an infantryman and then as a chaplain. In 1863, a friend of Toy's provided information on Toy's tenure with the Confederate army: "He is chaplain in the 53d Georgia Regiment.... Is looking very well and seems to be enjoying himself. His Syriac books are in Norfolk and he has, therefore, been compelled to fall back on German for amusement." At one point during the conflict, Toy was captured and held at Fort McHenry. David Gordon Lyon described Toy's time at McHenry in his 1920 eulogy to Toy in the Harvard Theological Review: "The tedium of this confinement was relieved by the glee club, the daily mock dress parade with tin pans for drums, and the class in Italian, organized and taught by him."

Following his release, Toy began teaching at the University of Alabama (a Confederate training school), where he remained until the close of the war in 1865. Following the war, Toy taught Greek at the University of Virginia for a year and then traveled to Germany to study theology, Sanskrit, and Semitic languages. After studying in Berlin for two years, Toy accepted an offer from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, thus returning to the school at which he had studied ten years earlier.

While at the Seminary, Toy spent ten years teaching Old Testament interpretation and Semitic languages. He was a well-respected member of the faculty and of the larger community. Toward the end of his tenure, however, Toy came into conflict with the Seminary's administration and Southern Baptist orthodoxy by raising questions about the doctrine of the divine inspiration of the Bible. Toy resigned, and the Seminary accepted his resignation in 1879.

In September of 1880, Toy began teaching at Harvard as the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages and Dexter Lecturer on Biblical Literature. Toy taught many languages at the Divinity School, including Arabic, Ethiopic and Hebrew. W. W. Fenn remembered him this way: "I do not believe he ever made a student feel cheap at having asked a silly question or given a stupid answer. Dr. Toy would receive his question with the utmost graciousness, stroke his beard reflectively as if it were an inquiry calling for serious deliberation, restate it, put it in a slightly different form, relate it to other matters, and finally after much manipulation the question would come out one of the most significant problems in the entire realm of O.T. criticism and a student would pat himself on the back for his penetration." While at Harvard, Toy wrote Judaism and Christianity: A Sketch of the Progress of Thought from Old Testament to New Testament (1890), A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Proverbs (1899), and Introduction to the History of Religions (1913). After eight years at Harvard, Toy joined First Parish Unitarian Church in Cambridge, leaving the Southern Baptist tradition of his youth and early career. He died May 12, 1919.

 

Additional sources of information:

Dictionary of American Biography. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1928-1958.
Lyon, David G. "Crawford Howell Toy," Harvard Theological Review, v. 13, no. 1  (Jan.-Oct. 1920), p. 1-22.
"Notice of the Death of Professor Crawford Howell Toy," American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, v. 36, no. 1 (Oct. 1919)

David Gordon Lyon

  • Hollis Professor of Divinity, 1882-1910
  • Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages, 1910-20

David Gordon Lyon

David Gordon Lyon was born in Benton, Alabama, on May 24, 1852, the son of Dr. Isaac and Caroline Arnold Lyon. He received an AB degree from Howard College in 1875. He studied at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, but when Toy resigned, he went to study in Germany with Friedrich Delitzsch. He received a PhD from Leipzig in 1882.

His appointment as Hollis Professor of Divinity in 1882 was due largely as a result of Toy's sponsorship. (It took some urging appointing an Assyriologist to this position. On the other hand, the chair had been given by a Baptist so it was appropriate for a Baptist to hold it!) He was the first professor of Assyriology in the United States, his appointment coming a year before Paul Haupt came to Johns Hopkins. Upon Toy's retirement, he was appointed Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages at the Divinity School. He conceived the idea of the Semitic Museum, convinced Jacob Schiff to fund it, was its first curator from 1891 until 1922, and oversaw the completion of the building in 1903. He also served as the Director of the American School for Oriental Study and Research in Palestine, 1906-07, and excavated at Samaria. His works included An Assyrian Manual (1886), Harvard Excavtions at Samaria, 1908-1910 (1924), and numerous articles in the history of religions and in Oriental studies. He died December 4, 1935.

David Gordon Lyon
 

Additional sources of information:

Barton, George A. "David Gordon Lyon: In Memoriam." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research v. 62 (Apr. 1936), p. 2.
"Necrology." American Journal of Archaeology, v. 40, no. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1936), p. 131.

Edward Caldwell Moore

  • Parkman Professor of Theology, 1902-15
  • Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, 1915-29

Edward Caldwell Moore

Edward Caldwell Moore, the younger brother of George Foot Moore, was born on October 15, 1851, also in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Marietta College (Ohio) in 1877 and from Union Theological Seminary in 1884. He received a PhD from Brown University in 1891.

He joined the Harvard faculty in 1902 after serving as the pastor of a Central Congregational Church in Providence, Rhode Island (1889-1902). While at the Divinity School, Moore taught courses largely in post-Reformation theology, spanning from Kant to William James, and authored An Outline of the History of Christian Thought Since Kant (1912). In 1915 Moore became the Plummer Professor at the Divinity School and the chairman of the University's Board of Preachers.

Moore also displayed a great interest in Christian missionary activity, authoring The Spread of Christianity in the Modern World (1919), serving as President of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and participating in post-World War II Christian relief efforts in Turkey.

Having served the Harvard community for 27 years, the younger Moore retired in 1929.

Edward Caldwell Moore

Additional source of information:

Dictionary of American Biography. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1928-1958.

George Foot Moore

  • Professor of Theology, 1902-04
  • Frothingham Professor, 1904-28

George Foot Moore

George Foot Moore was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on 15 October 1851. He received an AB from Yale in 1872 and attended the Union Theological Seminary (1877). Soon thereafter, he was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry (1878) and served a parish in Zanesville, Ohio (1878-83).

G.F. Moore began his teaching career at the Andover Theological Seminary, where he remained from 1883 until 1901. He joined the Harvard faculty in 1902. His universal knowledge became almost a myth, and he was consulted by all sorts of inquirers on every kind of subject. Moore was well diversified in his teaching and scholarship, although he focused much of his time on the Hebrew Bible and the history of Judaism. His monumental three-volume Judaism (1927-30) was revolutionary in not attempting to modernize or theologize in a Christian sense Jewish sources.

He also held many non-teaching positions, including syndic at Harvard University Press (1913-24) and editor of the Harvard Theological Review (1908-14 and 1921-31). Among his various organizational affiliations were the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Oriental Society.

George Foot Moore

Additional source of information:

Dictionary of American Biography. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1928-1958.

Joseph Henry Thayer

  • Bussey Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation, 1884-1901

Joseph Henry Thayer

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 7, 1828, Joseph Henry Thayer began his long association with Harvard Divinity School in 1883, when he joined the faculty as instructor of the New Testament.

Having graduated from Harvard College in 1850, Thayer entered the Andover Theological Seminary, completing his course of study in 1857. After a brief stint as a pastor in Salem, Thayer joined the faculty of the Andover Theological Seminary, a position he held from 1864 to 1882. At Harvard, Thayer briefly served as Instructor of the New Testament, but soon became the Bussey Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation, a position he held until 1901.

In 1895, Thayer proposed the creation of the American School of Oriental Research. Soon thereafter, the school opened its doors in Jerusalem. (Among the directors of the school is David Gordon Lyon, also highlighted in this exhibit). Much of Thayer's scholarship focuses on translation, including his best-known work, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, to which he devoted nearly twenty years.

Thayer retired in 1901, and was replaced as Bussey Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation by James Hardy Ropes.

"Editorial," The Christian Register, Mar. 16, 1893, p. 1:

Prof. Thayer advises young sermon-writers not to read sermons on the theme which engages their attention until after they have completed their task. He says that a sermon by a great preacher is rank poison in such a case. Robert Collyer's new sermons, "Things Old and New," are of this class. They are so catching that, using the same text or speaking on the same subject immediately after reading one of them, it would be almost impossible to avoid imitation. The first question one asks is not, "How did he think of that?" but, "Why didn't I think of it?" By the way, the publication of so many good sermons is spoiling all the good texts and striking topics. In the good old days a hundred men might be at the same time be working on the same text and the same subject without borrowing or being charged with plagiarism. But now, when a good text or title ingeniously treated is reported by telegraph or printed by the thousand, the natural rights of the ordinary preacher seem to be taken from him. What little originality he had is pre-empted by the men of genius. Many a good sermon is made useless for a hard-working minister by the publication of some other sermon which, whether better or not, covers the same ground in a similar way.

 

Additional source of information:

Dictionary of American Biography. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1928-1958.

James Hardy Ropes

  • Instructor in New Testament Criticism and Interpretation (1895-98)
  • Assistant Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation (1898-1903)
  • Bussey Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation (1903-10)
  • Hollis Professor of Divinity (1910-33)

James Hardy Ropes

Born in Salem on September 3, 1866, Ropes graduated from Harvard College in 1889 and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1893. After studying in Germany for two years, he joined the Harvard faculty as an instructor and, in 1903, received the Bussey Chair (until 1910) and the Hollis Professorship of Divinity.

While at Harvard, Ropes was instrumental in the Andover Theological Seminary's move to Cambridge in 1908 and in the even closer (and short-lived) affiliation with Harvard that began in 1922. Ropes was also much involved in the larger Harvard community. He was a member of the corporation of Radcliffe College (1905-1912) and Simmons College.

Ropes served as the editor of the Harvard Theological Review from 1921 until his retirement. His scholarship focused on New Testament criticism and interpretation; one of his books, The Text of Acts, was awarded the British Academy's medal for biblical studies.

James Hardy Ropes

Additional source of information:

Dictionary of American Biography. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1928-1958.

Ephraim Emerton

  • Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History (1882-1918)

Ephraim Emerton

Ephraim Emerton was born February 18, 1851, in Salem, Massachusetts, to James Emerton, an apothecary, and Martha West Emerton. After graduating from Harvard College in 1871, he worked as a reporter for the Boston Advertiser and then studied law, enrolling in the Boston University Law School in 1872. After a year of traveling in Europe, he enrolled in Leipzig University and studied under Theodor Mommsen and J. G. Droysen. His 1876 thesis Sir William Temple und die Tripleallianz vom jahre 1668, was published in 1877. He married Sibyl M. Clark in 1877.

At Harvard, he served as an Instructor in History and German from 1876 to 1878 and then as an Instructor in History from 1878 to 1882. He was elected in 1882 to be the Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History, the post he held until his retirement in 1918. In addition to textbooks, such as Medieval Europe, 814-1300, shown here, he wrote Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1899), Unitarian Thought (1911), The Defensor Pacis of Marsiglio of Padua (1920), and Humanism and Tyranny: Studies in the Italian Trecento (1925).

He was one of the founders of the American Historical Association, President of the American Society of Church History from 1920-1921, and President of the Cambridge Historical Society from 1921 to 1927.

He died in Cambridge on March 3, 1935.

His 1921 book Living and Learning: Academic Essays (Cambridge: Harvard University Press) includes an essay "The Rational Education of the Modern Minister." This passage (pp. 271-272) reveals something about his own character and about his view of the ministry:

"That the institution of the Christian ministry is to go on and will try to do substantially the work it has always tried to do is here assumed, in spite of all prognostications to the contrary.  My own conviction on this point may be illustrated by an early experience.  A generation ago, when I was a young teacher of History in the university I was sudddenly offered the newly founded professorship of Church History in the Harvard Divinity School.  I was a layman, with only a very loose connection with a religious organization and I had made, up to that time, no detailed study of either the institutions or the doctrines of the historic Church.  In my preliminary conversation with President Eliot he asked me among other things what was my feeling in regard to the permanence of the ministerial profession.  In view of the obvious rivalries of the press, of charitable organization, of scientific study, of popular education, did I feel that the profession of the minister was worth maintaining in dignity and honor as a part of the function of a great university?  My reply was, thatI did not believe the time had come or was likely to come soon when the spoken word would lose its power over the minds of men.  If the Christian ministry under its present form should dis-appear tomorrow, under some other form it would reappear the day after to-morrow and would go on doing the same work it had always done."

Ephraim Emerton

Additional source of information:

American National Biography. Edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.