Edward Norris Kirk (August 14, 1802 – March 27, 1874), was a Christian

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which 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.Tho ...

, pastor, teacher,

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

and writer in the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

and revivalist traditions in the US. He founded the Fourth Presbyterian Church,

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

, following a schism at the Second Presbyterian Church in the same city, and later served as the first pastor of Mount Vernon Congregational Church (now associated with

Old South Church Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, (also known as New Old South Church or Third Church) is a historic United Church of Christ congregation first organized in 1669. Its present building was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Charles ...

) in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, from 1842 to 1871, where his teaching led to the conversion of renowned evangelist

Dwight L. Moody Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 26, 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 Massa ...

Life

Kirk was educated at

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of ...

under Dr. Archibald Alexander, and after graduating worked as an agent for the ''Board of Foreign Missions''. In 1824, he helped to create the

Chi Phi Chi Phi () is considered by some as the oldest American men's college social fraternities and sororities, fraternity that was established as the result of the merger of three separate organizations that were each known as Chi Phi. The earliest o ...

Society, a semi-religious, semi-literary organization, which ceased activity the following year when it merged with the Philadelphian Society. In 1827 he was appointed assistant pastor of the Second Presbyterian church in

, where William Sprague later ministered, and in 1828 he organized the Fourth Presbyterian church in Albany, after controversy at Second church resulted in a church division partly due to the revivalism techniques then being popularized by

Charles Grandison Finney Charles Grandison Finney (August 29, 1792 – August 16, 1875) was an American Presbyterian minister and leader in the Second Great Awakening in the United States. He has been called the "Father of Old Revivalism." Finney rejected much of trad ...

. With Dr.

Nathan S.S. Beman Nathan Sidney Smith Beman (1785 - 1871) was the fourth president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was born in what is now New Lebanon, New York on November 26, 1785. He graduated from Middlebury College in 1807. He then studied theology and ...

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany a ...

, Kirk established a training school which taught theology for aspiring evangelists. After a time preaching in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Kirk returned to the United States and took up the pastorate at Mount Vernon which he held for nearly 30 years. He was invited by th
American Foreign Christian Union
to "proceed to Paris for five months as a special commissioner to attend to the establishment of an American congregation and house of worship" in that city. Dr. Kirk sailed on the steamer "Asia" arriving in Paris February 6, 1857 and during his time there until September was able to secure the charter for the

American Church in Paris The American Church in Paris (formerly the American Chapel in Paris) was the first American church established outside the United States. It traces its roots back to 1814, and the present church building - located at 65 Quai d'Orsay in the 7th ...

from

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

and secured the purchase of the first building of the American Church in Paris located at 21 rue de Berri. He returned to Boston in September 1857. Although the American Foreign Christian Union urged him to consider the acceptance of the post of Chaplain to the infant church, he felt the claims of his church in Boston were pressing. He remained with the Mount Vernon congregation until his death, March 27, 1874 in Boston.

Works

Dr. Edward Norris Kirk was author of the following publications; *"Memorial of the Reverend John Chester, D.D." (Albany, 1829) *"Lectures on Christ's Parables" (New York, 1856) *"Sermons" (2 vols., 1840; Boston, 1860) *"Canon of the Holy Scriptures" (abridged, 1862) *Translations of Gaussen's "Inspiration of the Scriptures" (New York, 1842)" and Jean Frederic Astie's "Lectures on Louis XIV. and the Writers of his Age" (Boston. 1855). *"Lectures on Revivals ", edited by Reverend Daniel O. Mears (Boston, 1874).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, Edward Norris 1802 births 1874 deaths American sermon writers American evangelicals American Congregationalist ministers American Presbyterian ministers American Presbyterian missionaries Christian revivalists American Congregationalist missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in the United States Congregationalist missionaries in the United States American expatriates in France 19th-century American clergy