Roland Mushat Frye (July 3, 1921 – January 13, 2005) was an American English literature scholar and

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

Career

Frye was born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. In 1943 he interrupted his studies to enlist in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

and fought at the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

, winning a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

. After the war, Frye taught at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and joined

Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materi ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

as a research professor in residence. He returned to teaching in 1965, accepting a professorship at Penn. He was Schelling Professor of English Literature

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

from 1965 until his retirement in 1983. In 1978, he co-founded the

Center of Theological Inquiry Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of t ...

, an independent institution sponsored by the

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of t ...

. Frye was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Award by the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. The American Philosophical Society also awarded him both the "Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities" in 1989 and the "John Frederick Lewis Prize" in 1975. He was a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

elder. Frye was an opponent of creationism. He was the editor of ''Is God a Creationist?: The Religious Case Against Creation-Science'' which was positively reviewed in ''

The Quarterly Review of Biology ''The Quarterly Review of Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of biology. It was established in 1926 by Raymond Pearl. In the 1960s it was purchased by the Stony Brook Foundation when the editor H. Bentley Glass be ...

'' as an "excellent refutation of the creationist's claim to speak for orthodox religion."Glass, Bentley. (1984). ''Reviewed Work: Is God a Creationist? The Religious Case Against Creation-Science by Roland Mushat Frye''. ''

'' 59 (4): 455. In 2021, Professor Frye's son published a 350-page biography of his father. Renaissance Man: A Personal Biography of Roland Mushat Frye (Opus Publ.; www.politics-prose.com).

Publications

* ''Milton's Imagery and the Visual Arts: Iconographic Tradition in the Epic Poems'' * ''Is God a Creationist?: The Religious Case Against Creation-Science'' * ''God, Man and Satan: Patterns of Christian Thought and Life in "Paradise Lost", "Pilgrim's Progress" and the Great Theologians'' * ''The Renaissance Hamlet: Issues and Responses in 1600'' * ''Shakespeare: The Art of the Dramatist'' * ''Shakespeare and Christian Doctrine'' * ''The Reader's Bible - a Narrative - Selections from The King James Version'' * ''Shakespeare's Life and Times: A Pictorial Record'' * ''Perspective on Man - Literature and the Christian Tradition'' * ''Language for God and Feminist Language: Problems and Principles'' * ''The Teachings of Classical Puritanism on Conjugal Love''

References

1921 births 2005 deaths American academics of English literature American literary critics American theologians United States Army personnel of World War II Critics of creationism Folger Shakespeare Library University of Pennsylvania faculty Writers about religion and science Writers from Birmingham, Alabama {{US-theologian-stub