Bela Bates Edwards (1802–1852) was an American man of letters.

Biography

Edwards was born at

Southampton, Massachusetts Southampton () is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It was established first as a district of Northampton in 1732. It was incorporated in 1775. The name Southampton was given to it during its first town meeting in 1773. It ...

, on 4 July 1802. He graduated at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

in 1824, was a tutor there from 1827 to 1828, graduated at

Andover Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambridge. ...

in 1830, and was licensed to preach. From 1828 to 1833 he was assistant Secretary of the

American Education Society American Society for the Education of Pious Youth for the Gospel Ministry was organized in 1815 for the purpose of aid in the education of Protestant clergymen. It was renamed American Education Society (AES) in 1820, 1911-1913 It was formed under a ...

(organized in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in 1815 to assist students for the

ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

), and from 1828 to 1842 was editor of the society's newsletter, which after 1831 was called the ''American Quarterly Register''. He also founded (in 1833) and edited the ''American Quarterly Observer''; from 1836 to 1841 edited the ''Biblical Repository'' (after 1837 called the ''American Biblical Repository'') with which the ''Observer'' was merged in 1835; and was editor-in-chief of ''

Bibliotheca Sacra ''Bibliotheca Sacra'' (colloquially referred to as "BibSac") is a List of theological journals, theological journal published by Dallas Theological Seminary, first published in 1844 and the oldest theological journal in the United States. It was f ...

'' from 1844 to 1851. In 1837 he became professor of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

at Andover Theological Seminary, and from 1848 until his death was associate professor of sacred literature there. He was a founder of the Society for Ameliorating the Condition of the Slave and of the

American Missionary Society American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. He died at

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

, on 20 April 1852.

Publications

Among his numerous publications were: *''The Missionary Gazetteer'' (1832); *''The Biography of Self-Taught Men, with an Introductory Essay'' (1832); *''Memoir of Reverend Elias Cornelius'' (1833); *a once widely known ''Eclectic Reader'' (1830s); *a translation, with

Samuel Harvey Taylor Samuel Harvey Taylor (October 3, 1807 – January 29, 1871) was an American educator and 6th Principal of Phillips Academy Andover from 1837 to 1871, the longest to hold the office to date. Early life Taylor was born in Londonderry, New Hamps ...

(1807–1871), of Kuhner's ''Schulgrammatik der Griechischen Sprache'' *''Classical Studies'' (1844), essays in ancient literature and art written in collaboration with

Barnas Sears Barnas Sears (November 19, 1802 – July 6, 1880) was an American educational theorist and Baptist theologian. Biography Sears graduated from Brown University in 1825 and from Newton Theological Institution in 1827. For a short time, he served a ...

and C. C. Felton. *''Addresses and Sermons'', with a memoir by Rev. Edwards A. Park (1808–1900), were published in two volumes at Boston in 1853.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Bela Bates 1802 births 1852 deaths People from Southampton, Massachusetts American Christian theologians 19th-century American memoirists Amherst College alumni Andover Theological Seminary alumni