Roger Sherman
In the modern world, signing one’s name on a document might involve a fiduciary commitment, or communicate a covenantal agreement, or denote the acquisition of property at a cost to the signee. A person’s signature represents his promise to fulfill the obligations of the agreement. Rarely does one’s name on a piece of paper place…
Read MoreTim Keller
Timothy Keller was the son of William B. Keller and Louise A. Clemente Keller. He was born and grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, receiving his B.A. from Bucknell University, his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Seminary, and both a Doctor of Ministry and a Doctor of Divinity from Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Keller was married to…
Read MoreClarence E. Macartney
Clarence Edward Macartney was a towering figure in early 20th-century American Presbyterianism, best remembered for his unwavering commitment to traditional Christian doctrine during a time of tremendous theological and cultural upheaval. As pastor of prominent churches in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and a key voice in the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy of the 1920s, Macartney played a formative…
Read MorePhoebe Palmer
After languishing in obscurity for many years, the work of Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874) has been rediscovered by church historians and scholars. Although virtually unknown today, Palmer was a widely-recognized religious figure in her day—a woman whose concern for the holy life enabled her to transcend the limitations of both gender and denominational affiliation. As a…
Read MoreJohn Stott
Educated at Cambridge University, Stott was one of the most influential clergymen in the Church of England in the twentieth century. In 1950 he became rector of All Souls Church in London (the parish where he was born), and in 1975 rector emeritus. From 1952 to 1977 he led missions to university students on five…
Read MoreJacques Ellul
Jacques Ellul adhered to the maxim “think globally, act locally” throughout his life. He often said that he was born in Bordeaux by chance on January 6, 1912, but that it was by choice that he spent almost all his academic career there. After a long illness, he died on May 19, 1994, in his…
Read MoreDietrich Bonhoeffer
Bonhoeffer was born in 1906, son of a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Berlin. He was an outstanding student, and at the age of 25 became a lecturer in systematic theology at the same University. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Bonhoeffer became a leading spokesman for the Confessing Church,…
Read MoreKarl Rahner
One of the most important theologians of the 20th century, Karl Rahner was born in March 1904. He was the fourth of seven children, the son of a local college professor and a devout Christian mother. In 1922 Karl followed his older brother Hugo and entered the Jesuit community. As a Jesuit novice Rahner was…
Read MoreDorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers was born at Oxford on 13th June 1893, the only child of the Rev. Henry Sayers, of Anglo-Irish descent. Her father was at the time headmaster of Christ Church Cathedral School, and she was born in the headmaster’s house. She was brought up at Bluntisham Rectory, Cambridgeshire, and went to the Godolphin School,…
Read MoreReinhold Niebuhr
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was born 21 June 1892 in Wright City, Missouri, to Lydia Hosto and Gustav Niebuhr, a minister of the German Evangelical Synod of North America. At age fifteen Niebuhr entered the Synod’s proseminary, Elmhurst College. Three years later he enrolled at Eden Theological Seminary, where he received his B.Div. and was…
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