Samuel McChord Crothers (June 7, 1857–November 1927) was an American Unitarian minister with

The First Parish in Cambridge First Parish in Cambridge is a Unitarian Universalist church, located in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is a Welcoming Congregation and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association. The church is notable for its almost 40 ...

. He was a popular essayist.Editorial (November 13, 1927). Dr. Crothers As Essayist. ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''Eliot, Frederick May (1931). ''Samuel McChord Crothers: Interpreter of life.'' Beacon Press, ASIN B00087IMZ0 Crothers graduated from

Wittenberg College Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Americ ...

in 1873. In 1874, he graduated from College of New Jersey (later

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

). After earning a divinity degree at Union Theological Seminary in 1877, he became a

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 ...

minister. He resigned in 1881 and converted to the Unitarian church in 1882. Crothers died suddenly at his home in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

.Staff report (November 10, 1927). Rev. Dr. Crothers Dies Suddenly; Noted Preacher and Author is Stricken at His Home in Cambridge. A Minister at Age of 19 Often Had Occupied Pulpit at Harvard During Long Unitarian Pastorate. ''

Selected bibliography

*''The Understanding Heart'' (1903) *''The Gentle Reader'' (1903) *''The Pardoner's Wallet'' (1905) *''By the Christmas Fire'' (1908) *''Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Autocrat and His Fellow-Boarders'' (1909) *''Among Friends'' (1910) *''Humanly Speaking'' (1912) *''Meditations on Votes for Women, etc.'' (1914): "A contribution to the...literature of feminism" that asks women to be "as modest and unobtrusive as men in expressing their opinions" *"A Literary Clinic", ''The Atlantic Monthly'', Vol.118, No.3, (September 1916), pp. 291–301 (he coined the term "

bibliotherapy Bibliotherapy (also referred to as book therapy, reading therapy, poetry therapy or therapeutic storytelling) is a creative arts therapy that involves storytelling or the reading of specific texts. It uses an individual's relationship to the co ...

" in this article) . *''The Pleasures of an Absentee Landlord'' (1916) *''The Dame School of Experience'' (1920) *''Ralph Waldo Emerson: How to Know Him'' (1921) *''The Cheerful Giver'' (1923) *''The Children of Dickens'' (1925)

References

External links

Sermons
written by Samuel McChord Crothers are in the Harvard Divinity School Library at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

. * * * 1857 births 1927 deaths American male essayists Wittenberg University alumni Bibliotherapy Princeton University alumni Union Theological Seminary (New York City) alumni Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters {{US-reli-bio-stub