Paul Woolley (16 March 1902 – 17 March 1984) was professor of
Church history
__NOTOC__
Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception.
Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritua ...
at
Westminster Theological Seminary
Westminster Theological Seminary is a Protestant theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929 after Princeton chose to ...
from its inception in 1929 until his retirement in 1977.
Woolley studied at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
and
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 t ...
. He was a minister of the
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) was the first national Presbyterian denomination in the United States, existing from 1789 to 1958. In that year, the PCUSA merged with the United Presbyterian Church of North Americ ...
, but left to form the
Orthodox Presbyterian Church
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) is a confessional Presbyterian denomination located primarily in the United States, with additional congregations in Canada, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It was founded by conservative members of the Presbyter ...
in 1936.
In 1982, a ''
Festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
'' was published in his honor. ''John Calvin: His Influence in the Western World'' () was edited by
W. Stanford Reid and included contributions from
Robert Godfrey,
Philip Edgcumbe Hughes,
George Marsden
George Mish Marsden (born 1939) is an American historian who has written extensively on the interaction between Christianity and American culture, particularly on Christianity in American higher education and on American evangelicalism. He is be ...
, and
R. T. Kendall.
The Paul Woolley Chair of Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary is named in his honor.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolley, Paul
1902 births
1984 deaths
Historians of Christianity
Princeton University alumni
Princeton Theological Seminary alumni
Westminster Theological Seminary faculty
Orthodox Presbyterian Church ministers
20th-century American historians
American historians of religion
20th-century American clergy