Faculty of Boston University, 1891 – 1911

The end of the nineteenth-century was a theologically tumultuous period, and storms brewed around the School of Theology. Hinckley G. Mitchell, professor of the Old Testament, was charged with heresy. The controversy lasted for ten years and was played out before several courts. Although ultimately acquitted of the accusations leveled against him, the bishops–who at that time approved professors in the church’s theological schools–refused to confirm his reappointment. Mitchell was dismissed in 1905. The year before Mitchell departed Boston, Bordon Parker Bowne was also charged with heresy. His Personalism was denounced as a form of Unitarianism, but upon acquittal Bowne, unlike his colleague, was allowed to stay.

During the maestrom, three different faculty members acted as the Dean: Marcus Buell, C.W. Rishel, and Samuel L. Beiler.  Collectively they increased the scope of study at the School of Theology, particularly by hiring professors in fields outside of theology.

1893

William E. Huntington

1895

George K. Morris

1898

S.J. MacWatters

1899

J.M. Barker

1900

Melville B. Chapman

1905

Samuel L. Beiler