Adoniram Judson "A. J." Gordon (1836–1895) was an American

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

preacher, writer, composer, and founder of Gordon College and

Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) is an evangelical seminary with its main campus in Hamilton, Massachusetts, and three other campuses in Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Jacksonville, Florida. According to the Ass ...

Life

Gordon was born in New Hampton, New Hampshire, on April 19, 1836. His father, Baptist

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

John Calvin Gordon, was a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

named after

John Calvin John Calvin (; ; ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French Christian theology, theologian, pastor and Protestant Reformers, reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of C ...

. His mother was Sally Robinson Gordon. A.J. Gordon was named after Adoniram Judson, a Baptist missionary to

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

who had recently completed a Burmese translation of the Bible. Gordon experienced a Christian conversion at age 15 and thereafter sought to become a pastor. He graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

(then a Baptist affiliated school) in 1860 and Newton Theological Institution in 1863. In 1863, he married Maria Hale and became pastor of Jamaica Plain Baptist Church in

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for ne ...

. In 1869, he became pastor of Clarendon Street Baptist Church in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, a fairly affluent church. Under Gordon's leadership, Clarendon Street Church was described as "one of the most spiritual and aggressive in America". The church is no longer in operation. Gordon became a favored speaker in evangelist

Dwight L. Moody Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 22, 1899), also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Mas ...

's Northfield conventions. Every summer Gordon returned to his hometown in New Hampshire and often preached at the Dana Meeting House. Gordon became suddenly ill with

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

and

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

and died at age 59 on February 2, 1895. He is buried in

Forest Hills Cemetery Forest Hills Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery, greenspace, arboretum, and sculpture garden in the Forest Hills section of Jamaica Plain, a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The cemetery was established in 1848 as a pu ...

. A son, Ernest Barron Gordon, published a biography of his father in 1896, titled ''Adoniram Judson Gordon, a Biography with Letters and Illustrative Extracts Drawn from Unpublished or Uncollected Sermons and Addresses'', which is still in print.

College

In 1889, with the help and backing of Clarendon Street Church, he founded Gordon Bible Institute and served as its first president. His wife, Maria, was secretary and treasurer until 1908. Gordon's school was founded primarily to train

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

for work in the Congo.

Writings and teachings

Gordon edited two

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

books and wrote the

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...

s for at least fifteen hymns, including "My Jesus, I Love Thee," a hymn that has been included in nearly every evangelical hymnal published from 1876 to the present time. In his book ''The Ministry of the Holy Spirit'', Gordon wrote, "It seems clear from the Scriptures that it is still the duty and privilege of believers to receive the Holy Spirit by a conscious, definite act of appropriating faith, just as they received Jesus Christ" (see

Baptism with the Holy Spirit In Christian theology, baptism with the Holy Spirit, also called baptism in the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Ghost, has been interpreted by different Christian denominations and traditions in a variety of ways due to differences in the doctr ...

). His most remembered work is probably ''The Ministry of Healing'', a highly revered book on

divine healing Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healin ...

—physical, mental, and spiritual.Dr. R. A. Torrey
Gordon located healing in Christ's

Atonement Atonement, atoning, or making amends is the concept of a person taking action to correct previous wrongdoing on their part, either through direct action to undo the consequences of that act, equivalent action to do good for others, or some othe ...

, meaning it was universally available through faith in Christ. He prayed for the sick privately, however, and did not integrate healing into his regular church ministry. ''The Ministry of Healing'' became a standard work among early

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

Published works

* ''Adoniram Judson Gordon: A Biography'' * ''Congregational Worship'' * ''Ecce Venit: Behold He Cometh'' * ''A Faithful Past; An Expectant Future'' * ''The First Thing in the World, or, The Primacy of Faith'' * ''The Holy Spirit in Missions'' * ''How Christ Came to Church'' * ''In Christ, or, The Believer's Union with His Lord'' * ''Journal of Our Journey'' * ''The Ministry of Healing, or, Miracles of Cure in All Ages'' * ''The Ministry of the Spirit'' * ''The Ministry of Women'' * ''A School of Christ'' * ''Shaping A Heritage'' * ''The Twofold Life, or, Christ's Work for Us and Christ's Work in Us'' * ''Yet Speaking: A Collection of Addresses''

Gallery

File:Dana Meeting House in New Hampton NH.jpg, Dana Meeting House in his hometown in New Hampshire, where Judson preached during the summers File:Clarendon Street Church.jpg, Clarendon Street Baptist Church in Boston File:A.J. Gordon.jpg, Rev. Adoniram Judson Gordon later in life File:AJ Gordon grave.jpg, A.J. Gordon's grave

References

External links

* *
A Short Biography of Adonirum Judson Gordon

A Biography of A. J. Gordon with Letters and Illustrative Extracts Drawn from Unpublished or Uncollected Sermons & Addresses
by his son, Ernest Barron Gordon (PDF Extract) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Adoniram Judson 1836 births 1895 deaths Brown University alumni Baptist ministers from the United States American Christian hymnwriters 19th-century American writers 19th-century American musicians People from South End, Boston People from New Hampton, New Hampshire 19th-century American clergy