
Amos Niven Wilder (September 18, 1895 – May 1, 1993) was an American
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
, minister, and
theology
Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
professor.
Life
Wilder was born in
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...
. He studied for two years at
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
(1913–1915), but volunteered in the
Ambulance Field Service; he was awarded the ''Croix de Guerre.'' In November 1917, he enlisted in the U.S. Field Artillery as a corporal. He wrote ''Battle Retrospect'', about his experiences in World War I.
In 1920, Wilder graduated from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. In college he was an inter-collegiate doubles champion tennis player, and he played at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
in 1922, with his partner Lee Wiley. He served as secretary to
Albert Schweitzer
Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German and French polymath from Alsace. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. As a Lutheran minister, ...
lecturing at
Oxford University
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
,
where he was studying at
Mansfield College (1921–1923). He completed his studies for ordained ministry at Yale in 1924.
Ministry
Wilder was ordained in 1926 and served in a
Congregational
Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...
church in
North Conway, New Hampshire. He received his doctorate from Yale in 1933.
He taught for 11 years at the
Chicago Theological Seminary
The Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is a Christian ecumenical American seminary located in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of several seminaries historically affiliated with the United Church of Christ. It is the oldest institution of higher e ...
and the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
, and served as president of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research in 1949–1950. Wilder joined
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1954 as Hollis Professor of Divinity. In 1962 he was part of the first board of directors for the
Society for the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture The Society for the Arts, Religion, and Contemporary Culture, or ARC, was founded in October 1961 by three people: Alfred Barr, the art critic and founder of the Museum of Modern Art, the theologian Paul Tillich, and Marvin Halverson, an American Pr ...
. In 1963, he was named ''emeritus'' faculty. His papers are held at the Harvard Divinity School Library of Harvard Divinity School.
Family
Wilder's father,
Amos Parker Wilder, was a journalist with a doctorate from Yale, who served as United States Consul General in Hong Kong and Shanghai between 1906 and 1914. His mother was the daughter of a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
minister. His brother was
Thornton Wilder, and sisters were
Charlotte Wilder,
Isabel Wilder and
Janet Wilder Dakin.
Wilder married Catharine Kerlin in 1935. They had a daughter, Catharine Wilder Guiles, and a son, Amos Tappan Wilder.
Awards
*
Golden Rose Award
* 1923
Yale Series of Younger Poets, ''Battle Retrospect''
Works
Poetry
*
* reprint 1971 by AMS Press.
Memoir
*
Theology
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Non-fiction
*
Criticism
*
*
See also
*
List of ambulance drivers during World War I
*
Theopoetics
References
External links
Papers of Wilder are in the Harvard Divinity School Libraryat
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilder, Amos
1895 births
1993 deaths
Alumni of Mansfield College, Oxford
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
American male tennis players
United States Army personnel of World War I
American theologians
American World War I poets
20th-century American male writers
American male poets
Harvard Divinity School faculty
Oberlin College alumni
Sportspeople from Madison, Wisconsin
People from North Conway, New Hampshire
American recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)
Tennis players from Wisconsin
University of Chicago faculty
Writers from Wisconsin
Yale Bulldogs men's tennis players
Yale Younger Poets winners
United States Army soldiers
American Congregationalists
20th-century American sportsmen