Henry Hampton Halley (April 10, 1874 – May 23, 1965) was an American

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

minister and religious writer. He was best known as author of ''Halley's Bible Handbook'', first published in 1924.

History

Halley was born in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

in 1874, and graduated from

Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern ...

and the College of the Bible in 1895. Halley's career as a preacher began in 1899. He married Margaret "Madge" Alberta Gillie and they had four children. Halley began his Bible Handbook in 1924, at which point it was only a 16-page

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...

of introductory material, called "Suggestions for Bible Study". After Halley distributed 10,000 free copies, he published a second edition that had grown to 32 pages. Each edition saw growth and Halley did not charge until it reached 100 pages. Until 1941, Halley supported his ministry and his publications through donations. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Halley stopped travelling to preach and put together his Bible handbook: "An Abbreviated Bible Commentary, Amazing Archaeological Discoveries, How We Got the Bible, An Epitome of Church History, Select Bible Verses." It was printed by

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. When the publication rights were transferred to

Zondervan Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publ ...

in 1960, the handbook had already sold over 5 million copies.Ruark, James E. ''The House of Zondervan: Celebrating 75 Years''. Zondervan, 2006, pp. 94-95. Over a period of 10 years he spent at least 10,000 hours memorizing scripture in achieving one of the greatest feats of memorization of scripture known to man. He could recite a total of 25 hours of nothing but scripture, including narratives of every book from the longest to the shortest. ''Halley's Bible Handbook'' Deluxe Edition, Zondervan, 2014, pp.1029-1035 Halley was presented the Chicago Bible Society's Gutenberg Award in 1961.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halley, Henry Hampton Bible commentators 1874 births 1965 deaths American Christian writers People from Caldwell County, Kentucky