Background

James Petigru Boyce was born on January 11, 1827, near tidewater at Charleston, South Carolina, and was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He was the son of Ker and Amanda Jane Caroline (Johnston) Boyce.

His grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution, his father a wealthy cotton merchant in Charleston.

Education

James Boyce early showed an inclination for books, was fitted for college before he was old enough to enter Charleston College, and later revealed his intellectual abilities there and at Brown University, where he graduated in 1847.

Career

A religious conversion turned his thoughts to the ministry as a profession, and he was licensed to preach. He spent two years at Princeton Theological Seminary, acquiring an enviable knowledge of theological literature, and specializing in the department of theology.

In 1851, he settled as pastor of the Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina. In 1855, when only twenty-eight years old he was elected professor of theology in the theological department of the new Furman University at Greenville, South Carolina.

Theological instruction in preparation for the Baptist ministry had hitherto been limited to personal guidance in the homes of leading ministers, and later to instruction in theological departments of academies and country colleges, such as Furman.

Boyce became a familiar figure on the plantations as he drove about soliciting support. He possessed an extensive tract of land near Greenville which brought him in large agricultural profits, and his father, also, assisted him financially so that he was able to live without a salary.

In 1859, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, with Boyce at its head, was organized at Greenville where it took over the theological department and library of Furman. The outbreak of the Civil War scattered its students, sent Boyce as a chaplain to a South Carolina regiment, and stopped any further receipt of funds.

The recovery of educational institutions after the war was necessarily slow, and the Seminary had no buildings and little endowment. Out of his reduced fortune, Boyce paid necessary bills to keep the school open, and it slowly recovered, ultimately moving to Louisville, Kentucky, where it became a credit to the denomination.

His last years brought him ill health, which sent him to California, Alaska, and Europe. He died at Pau, France.

Achievements

• Throughout his career, James Boyce proved himself a skilled fundraiser and administrator, equally able to produce a financial miracle and quell a fractious moment. For almost thirty years, Boyce served as Southern's de facto president, although his official title was chairman of the faculty. He shaped the curriculum on the elective principle, which he had learned from his president at Brown, Francis Wayland. He was highly regarded for his executive ability, for a number of years was president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and once was vainly urged to become president of the South Carolina Railroad Company at a salary of $10, 000.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Abstract Of Systematic Theology
  • A Brief Catechism Of Bible Doctrine

Religion

In his religious affiliation James Boyce was a Baptist.

Views

Boyce was among the first to see that there was need of a theological seminary on an independent, well-endowed foundation, and he soon gave up the regular work of instruction at Furman and became the spokesman for the new enterprise. The matter was agitated for several years before it took definite form. Boyce was thoroughly convinced that nothing he could do was more crucial to the gospel than his devoted service to the seminary.

As a theologian, Boyce maintained staunchly the conservative opinions that were characteristic of the Southern churches.

Connections

On December 20, 1858, James Petigru Boyce was married to Lizzie Llewellyn Ficklen.

Father:

Ker Boyce

Mother:

Amanda Jane Caroline (Johnston) Boyce

Wife:

Lizzie Llewellyn Ficklen

References

• Southern Baptist Theological Seminary