Religious Figure and Abolitionist. A Presbyterian minister and considered by many as "The Father of Modern Revivalism", he became an innovative preacher during the Second Great Awakening, a Protestant religious revival that occurred in the US during the early part of the 19th century. His religious views led him to promote social reforms, such as abolition of slavery and equal education for women and African Americans. The youngest of 15 children, his parents were farmers who moved to upstate New York after the Revolutionary War. As a young man, he studied law and apprenticed to pursue a profession as a lawyer, but after a dramatic religious conversion experience, he gave up legal practice to preach the gospel. In 1821 he studied to become a licensed minister in the Presbyterian Church. However, he had misgivings about the fundamental doctrines taught in Presbyterianism and he departed from traditional Calvinist theology by teaching that people have free will to choose salvation. In 1832 he moved to New York City, New York, where he became minister of the Chatham Street Chapel and introduced some of the revivalist fervor of upstate to his urban congregations. In 1835 he moved to Oberlin, Ohio where he became a professor at Oberlin College there, and served as its second president from 1851 until 1866. He died at the age of 82.
Religious Figure and Abolitionist. A Presbyterian minister and considered by many as "The Father of Modern Revivalism", he became an innovative preacher during the Second Great Awakening, a Protestant religious revival that occurred in the US during the early part of the 19th century. His religious views led him to promote social reforms, such as abolition of slavery and equal education for women and African Americans. The youngest of 15 children, his parents were farmers who moved to upstate New York after the Revolutionary War. As a young man, he studied law and apprenticed to pursue a profession as a lawyer, but after a dramatic religious conversion experience, he gave up legal practice to preach the gospel. In 1821 he studied to become a licensed minister in the Presbyterian Church. However, he had misgivings about the fundamental doctrines taught in Presbyterianism and he departed from traditional Calvinist theology by teaching that people have free will to choose salvation. In 1832 he moved to New York City, New York, where he became minister of the Chatham Street Chapel and introduced some of the revivalist fervor of upstate to his urban congregations. In 1835 he moved to Oberlin, Ohio where he became a professor at Oberlin College there, and served as its second president from 1851 until 1866. He died at the age of 82.
Bio by: William Bjornstad
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