George Burman Foster (1858–1918) was part of the faculty in the Divinity School (Baptist) at the University of Chicago under the leadership of
William Rainey Harper
William Rainey Harper (July 24, 1856 – January 10, 1906) was an American academic leader, an accomplished semiticist, and Baptist clergyman. Harper helped to establish both the University of Chicago and Bradley University and served as the fi ...
. His views were often thought by his contemporaries to support scientific naturalistic and humanistic views that contradict a
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
view.
A friendship with
Clarence Darrow shows that despite Foster's progressive views he still valued and respected the views of a traditional Christian community.
[Leslie A. Mura]
''Liberal Protestantism and Science''
Contributor John B. Cobb, Jr. Greenwood Publishing Group
Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Gr ...
, 2008. . pp. 43-
Biography
George Burman Foster was born in
Wolfcreek, Virginia (now West Virginia) on April 2, 1858.
He graduated from
West Virginia University
West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...
with an
A.M. degree in 1883.
He married Mary Lyon on August 6, 1884, and they had two children.
[
He died in ]Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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on December 22, 1918.[
]
Selected publications
''The finality of the Christian religion''
University of Chicago Press, 1906.
''The function of religion in man's struggle for existence''
University of Chicago Press, 1909.
''Christianity in its modern expression''
Macmillan, 1921.
References
Further reading
* Gary J. Dorrien
''The making of American liberal theology: idealism, realism, and modernity, 1900–1950''
Westminster John Knox Press, 2003. . pp. 156–161.
External links
Guide to the George Burman Foster Papers 1897-1917
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
1858 births
1918 deaths
19th-century Protestant theologians
People from Monroe County, West Virginia
West Virginia University alumni
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