Shailer Mathews (1863–1941) was an American liberal Christian theologian, involved with the

Social Gospel The Social Gospel is a social movement within Protestantism that aims to apply Christian ethics to social problems, especially issues of social justice such as economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, crime, racial tensions, slums, unclean envir ...

movement.

Career

Born on May 26, 1863, in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, Maine, and graduated from Colby College. Mathews was a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

, advocating social concerns as part of the

message, and subjecting

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

texts to scientific study, in opposition to contemporary conservative Christians. He incorporated evolutionary theory into his religious views, noting that the two were not mutually exclusive.The University of Chicago Centenniel Catalogues
/ref> He remained a devout

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christianity, Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe ...

for his entire life, and helped establish the Northern Baptist Convention, serving as its president in 1915. Mathews was a prolific author, served as president of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research twice (in 1898–1899 and 1928–1929), and also served as dean of the Divinity School of the University of Chicago (from 1908 to 1933). An endowed chair in his honor, the Shailer Mathews Professorship at the University of Chicago Divinity School, has recently been held by Franklin I. Gamwell and Hans Dieter Betz, and is currently held by

Margaret M. Mitchell Margaret M. Mitchell (born 1956) is an American biblical scholar and professor of early Christianity. She is currently Shailer Mathews Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Mitchell received her doctorate a ...

. He died on October 23, 1941. His ashes are interred in the crypt of First Unitarian Church of Chicago.

Select publications

* ''The Social Teachings of Jesus'', 1897 * ''A History of New Testament Times in Palestine'', 1899 * ''The French Revolution'', 1900 * ''The Messianic Hope in the New Testament'', 1905 * ''The Church and the Changing Order'', 1907 * ''The Social Gospel'', 1909 * ''The Gospel and the modern Man'', 1910 * ''The Social Teaching of Jesus'', 1910 * ''Scientific Management in Churches'', 1911 * ''The Individual and the Social Gospel'', 1914 * ''The Spiritual Interpretation of History'', 1916 * ''Patriotism and Religion'', 1918 * ''The Validity of American Ideals'', 1922 * ''The Faith of Modernism'', 1924 * ''Jesus on Social Institutions'', 1928 * ''The Atonement and the Social Process'', 1930 * ''The Growth of the Idea of God'', 1931 * ''Immortality and the Cosmic Process'', 1933 * ''Christianity and Social Process'', 1934 * ''Creative Christianity'', 1935 * ''New Faith for Old: An Autobiography'', 1936 * ''The Church and the Christian'', 1938 * ''Is God Emeritus?'' 1940

References

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External links