Beecher, Willis Judson

BEECHER, WILLIS JUDSON: Presbyterian; b. at Hampden, O., Apr. 29, 1838. He studied at Hamilton College (B.A., 1858) and Auburn Theological Seminary (1864), and was ordained to the ministry in 1864. After a pastorate at Ovid, N. Y., 1864–65, he was appointed professor of moral science and belles-lettres in Knox College, Galesburg, Ill. In 1869 he became pastor of the First Church of Christ in the same city. Two years later he was appointed professor of the Hebrew language and literature in Auburn Theological Seminary. In 1902 he delivered the Stone Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary. He was a member of the Assembly's Committee on the Revision of the Confession of Faith (1890–92), and in theology is a progressive conservative. Besides preparing the Old Testament Sunday-school lessons for the Sunday School Times since 1893, he has written Farmer Tompkins and his Bibles (Philadelphia, 1874); General Catalogue of Auburn Theological Seminary (Auburn, 1883); Drill Lessons in Hebrew (1883); Index of Presbyterian Ministers, 1706–1881 (Philadelphia, 1883; in collaboration with his sister Mary A. Beecher); The Prophets and the Promise (New York, 1905); and The Teaching of Jesus concerning the Future Life (1906).