Howard Crosby (27 February 1826 – 29 March 1891) was an American Presbyterian preacher, scholar and professor. He was Chancellor of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

Biography

Crosby was born in New York City in 1826 to William Bedlow Crosby and Harriet Ashton Clarkson. His ancestors included Judge Joseph Crosby of Massachusetts, Gen.

William Floyd William Floyd (December 17, 1734 – August 4, 1821) was an American Founding Father, wealthy farmer, and political leader from New York. Floyd served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and was a signer of the Continental Association and ...

of New York, a signer of the U.S.

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Rip Van Dam Rip Van Dam ( – 10 June 1749) was the acting governor of the Province of New York from 1731 to 1732. As one of the leaders of the republican liberal (or "country") party, Van Dam confronted the subsequent royal governor William Cosby. Early l ...

, and Matthias Nicoll. He is also the father of

Ernest Howard Crosby Ernest Howard Crosby (November 4, 1856 – January 3, 1907) was an American reformer, georgist, and writer, author. Early life Crosby was born in New York City in 1856. He was the son of the Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby (minister), Howard Crosby (1 ...

, and a relative of

Fanny Crosby Frances Jane van Alstyne (née Crosby; March 24, 1820 – February 12, 1915), more commonly known as Fanny J. Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than 8,000 hymns ...

. Crosby graduated in 1844 from NYU where he was one of the founding fathers of the Gamma Chapter of the

Delta Phi Delta Phi () is a fraternity founded in 1827 at Union College in Schenectady, New York consisting of ten active chapters along the East Coast of the United States. The fraternity also uses the names "St. Elmo," "St. Elmo Hall," or merely "Elmo" ...

fraternity, and became professor of Greek at NYU in 1851. In 1859, he was appointed professor of Greek at

Rutgers College Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

, New Brunswick, New Jersey, where two years later he was ordained pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New Brunswick. From 1863 until his death he was pastor of Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York. From 1870 to 1881 Crosby was chancellor of

, then known as the University of the City of New York. He was one of the American revisers of the English version of the New Testament. Crosby took a prominent part in politics. He urged to excise reform and opposed total abstinence. He was one of the founders and the first president of the New York Society for the Prevention of Crime, and pleaded for better management of Indian affairs and international copyright. Among his publications are ''The Lands of the Moslem'' (1851), Bible Companion (1870), Jesus: His Life and Works (1871), True Temperance Reform (1879), True Humanity of Christ (1880), and commentaries on the book of Joshua (1875), Nehemiah (1877) and the New Testament (1885). He was also president of the American Philological Association and in 1871 gave a presidential address, excerpted in the Proceedings of the American Philological Association. "Linguistics or philology may be considered either as a science or as a philosophy. Under the first aspect we may gain some idea of its extent by thinking of the vast number of languages which are to be investigated, not only those now spoken, but also many of which we have but the fossils. It touches here psychology and history, and enables us to know the unseen. A linguistic criticism is the source of all true commentary. By philology we can reconstruct prehistoric man, and read the history of times before the Olympiads and Nabonassar. Languages are never lost. By this science, the original unity of the human race is already nearly proved….Again philology as a philosophy speculates on the value of language to man, and its relations to his mind. These speculations are not to be confounded with the facts of the science….Every profound thinker has found himself fettered by language. Hence disputes and misunderstandings have arisen. Also in poetry, in devotion, in music, language is shown to be imperfect; it can never be made sufficient for the whole realm of thought. Man in his development, must have a nobler and fuller language than he has to-day. This may be in a new creation with spiritual bodies." The President, in conclusion, referred to the field of American languages as especially open to the researches of the Association, suggesting its division into sections and the organization of local branches (Crosby 1871: 8, quotation marks in the original). From 1872 to 1880 Crosby was a member of the New Testament Company of the American Revision Committee. Crosby married Margaret Evertson Givan, a daughter of John Givan and Mary Ann Evertson, she a granddaughter of Jacob Evertson of Amenia, New York.Derby and White, page 61

Works

* ''The Lands of the Moslem'' (1851) * ''A Bible Manual: intended to furnish a general view of the Holy Scriptures, as introductory to their study'' (1869) * ''Bible Companion'' (1870) * ''The Healthy Christian: An Appeal to the Church'' (1871) * ''Jesus: His Life and Works'' (1871) * ''Thoughts on the Decalogue'' (1873) * ''The Bible on the Side of Science. A Lecture Delivered in New York'' (1875) * ''Expository notes on the Book of Joshua'' (1875) * ''The New Testament, with Brief Explanatory Notes Or Scholia'' * ''The Book of Nehemiah'' (1877) * ''True Temperance Reform'' (1879) * ''The Christian Preacher'' (1880) * ''The True Humanity of Christ'' (1880) * ''Moderation vs. Total Abstinence'' *
The New Testament in both Authorized and Revised versions
' (1884) * ''The Bible view of the Jewish church, in Thirteen Lectures'' (1888)

References

External links

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crosby, Howard 1826 births Presidents of New York University 1891 deaths Presbyterian Church in the United States of America ministers American people of Dutch descent Clergy from New York City 19th-century American clergy