Background

James Clement Moffat was born on May 30, 1811, in Scotland, at Glencree. His father was David Douglas Moffat, his mother was Margaret Clement.

Education

Most of his early education, Moffat gave himself. From his tenth year to his sixteenth, he was a shepherd boy, and while at work read all the books he could lay hands on. For five years from 1828, he worked in a printing shop, and out of hours studied Latin, Greek, French, German, and Hebrew. In 1833, he landed in New York, expecting to follow his trade, but a chance meeting with Professor (afterward President) John Maclean of Princeton led to his entering the junior class of that college. After his graduation in 1835, he was for two years a private tutor with two students at Yale, and himself studied there.

Career

Moffat was a tutor in Greek in Princeton College. In 1839, he went to Lafayette College as professor of Latin and Greek, and in 1841 began a service of eleven years as a professor of Latin and esthetics at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. The Presbytery of Oxford licensed him to preach on January 5, 1851, and on October 23 of the same year, ordained him, without his having taken a theological course. His long poem, Alwyn: A Romance of Study (1875), which is known to be autobiographical, doubtless interprets his life to this point. It recites the spiritual adventures of the hero, following him through many fields of reading and thought, wide travels in Europe for the sake of study, influences of many forms of art, and experiences with various philosophies. In the end, he returns to the Christian faith in which he had been brought up. For a few months in 1852, Moffat taught Greek and Hebrew in a short-lived theological seminary in Cincinnati. Then followed eight years in Princeton College, as a professor first of Latin and history and then of Greek. In 1861, he became a professor of church history in Princeton Theological Seminary. This place he held for seventeen years. He taught for a year after his resignation, and a year later died in Princeton.

Achievements

• Moffat is known as a professor of church history in Princeton Theological Seminary

Works

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  • The Church in Scotland: A History of Its Antecedents, It Conflicts, and Its Advocates, from the Earliest Recorded Times to the First Assembly of the Reformed Church

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Church History in Brief

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Of the Inheritance of English Literature: An Address Delivered Before the Miami Chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi Society, On the Evening of August 11, 1846

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The story of a dedicated life

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • A Comparative History Of Religions: Ancient Scriptures

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Outlines of Church History

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • An introduction to the study of aesthetics

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

  • Alwyn: A Romance of Study

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

  • A Comparative History of Religions Volume 1-2

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

Personality

Moffat was not original in mind and did not impress his students with force of personality, but his nature was refined and cultivated and sensitive to beauty in nature and art. An industrious student and a copious writer, he was also a lover of the outdoor world and a notable walker. While his main intellectual concern was with church history, his interests were varied and enthusiastic. He had poetic aspirations and wrote a good deal of verse, but recognized his own limitations in this faculty. His character was profoundly religious and marked by great simplicity and gentleness.

Connections

Moffat was married on October 13, 1840, at Easton, Pennsylvania, to Ellen Stewart, who died in 1849, and on December 26, 1850, at Oxford, Ohio, he was married to Mary B. Matthews. Five sons and three daughters survived him.

Father:

David Douglas Moffat

11 January 1790 - 25 February 1865

Mother:

Helen McClymont Moffat

1791 - 28 July 1872

Brother:

David William Moffat

9 January 1835 - 20 September 1920

Sister:

Jean Moffat

10 March 1821 - 4 April 1857

Sister:

Elizabeth C. Moffatt Graham

2 July 1830 - 31 October 1918

Wife:

Mary Blair Matthews Moffat

17 February 1828 - 9 April 1875

Wife:

Ellen Stewart Moffat

23 March 1822 - 15 July 1849

Daughter:

Elizabeth Moffatt

Daughter:

Margaret McClellan Moffat

7 June 1874 - 1 September 1874

Daughter:

Annie Moffat

28 August 1854 - 24 April 1899

Son:

William David Moffat

17 January 1865 - 29 September 1946

Son:

Henry Moffat

20 December 1855 - 25 March 1926

Son:

Robert Moffat

31 January 1861 - 23 November 1861

Son:

Stanley Matthews Moffat

21 September 1859 - 9 December 1861

Son:

Alexander Moffat

27 September 1862 - 23 February 1914

Son:

Clement Moffat

28 February 1846 - 24 April 1853

Son:

Edward Stewart Moffat

5 January 1844 - 4 August 1893

References

• In memoriam James Clement Moffat