James Thompson Bixby (July 30, 1843 – December 26, 1921) was a

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Unitarian minister and writer.

Biography

He was born at Barre, Massachusetts, and graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

(1864) and Harvard Divinity School (B.D., 1870). He entered the ministry, and served as a minister for Unitarian churches in

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(1870–74),

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(1875-79), and

Meadville, Pennsylvania Meadville is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The city is within of Erie and within of Pittsburgh. It was the first permanent settlement in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The population was 13,388 at the 2010 censu ...

(1879–83). In Meadville, he was also professor of the philosophy of religion in the

Meadville Theological School The Meadville Lombard Theological School is a Unitarian Universalist seminary in Chicago, Illinois. History Meadville Lombard is a result of a merger in the 1930s between two institutions, a Unitarian seminary and a Universalist seminary. M ...

from 1879 to 1883. In 1883, he went abroad for study and travel, receiving the degree of

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

in 1885, having also attended the universities at

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and

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. He served as a minister in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

(1887-1903). He retired in 1903, and spent his last years in Yonkers. He lectured on the philosophy of religious at the

Lowell Institute The Lowell Institute is a United States educational foundation located in Boston, Massachusetts, providing both free public lectures, and also advanced lectures. It was endowed by a bequest of $250,000 left by John Lowell Jr., who died in 1836. ...

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, in 1876 and 1883. He was a member of the Authors' Club and Authors' League of America. He was interested in founding theology on a scientific basis, and his studies of comparative religion also found expression in his writings. In his later life, he wrote on immortality for ''Bibliotheca Sacra'' and ''Biblical World''. Bixby criticized the arguments of

Felix Leopold Oswald Felix Leopold Oswald (December 6, 1845 – September 27, 1906) was a Belgian American physician, naturalist, secularist and freethought writer. Biography Oswald was born in Namur, Belgium. He graduated from Brussels University in 1865. He st ...

, that Christianity was of Buddhist origin.Bixby, James T. (1891)
''Buddhism in the New Testament''
''

The Arena An arena is an enclosed area that showcases theatre, musical performances or sporting events. Arena, ARENA, or the Arena may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions * Arena, Saskatchewan, Canada * Arena, Iran * Arena, Calabria, Italy * La ...

'' 3 (2): 555-566.

Works

* ''Similarities of Physical and Religious Knowledge'' (1876; 2nd ed. under the title ''Religion and Science as Allies'', 1889)
''Evolution and Christianity''
(1891) * * ''The Crisis in Morals; Examination of Rational Ethics in the Light of Modern Science'' (1891; 2nd ed. under the title, ''The Ethics of Evolution'', 1900) * ''The New World and the New Thought'' (1902) * ''The Open Secret'' (1912) * ''What is Bahaism?'' (1912)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bixby, James Thompson 1843 births 1921 deaths American Unitarian clergy American non-fiction writers Harvard College alumni Harvard Divinity School alumni Leipzig University alumni