John Frederick Woolverton

Background

John Frederick Woolverton was born on July 14, 1926, in New York City, New York, United States. He is a son of William Henderson Woolverton, a farmer and military man, and Frances (Curtis) Woolverton.

Education

As a teenager, John attended Groton School in Massachusetts. In 1950, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College. Later, in 1953, he attained a Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary. Then, Woolverton continued his education at Columbia University, graduating with a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1963.

Also, in 1984, he received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary.

Career

During the period from 1945 till 1946, John served as a corporal in the United States Army Air Forces. Between 1946 and 1947, he was a corporal at the 55th New York Cavalry.

In 1953, he was ordained a deacon by Bishop Robert Gibson and in 1954, he was ordained a priest by Bishop John Hines.

In 1958, Woolverton began serving as a professor of church history at the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia (present-day Virginia Theological Seminary), a post he held till 1983. During the period from 1970 till 1983, John also held a post of the Arthur Lee Kinsolving Chair in Christianity in America at the same seminary. In 1977, Woolverton began editing the Historical Magazine of the Episcopal Church, which became Anglican and Episcopal History magazine in 1987.

In 1983, when John resigned from Virginia Theological Seminary, he was appointed a rector at Trinity Church of Portland. He remained in that position until 1989, when he was made a vice chair of the Sandwich Democratic Town Committee.

Achievements

• John Frederick Woolverton is a renowned professor of church history, author of several works, as well as an ordained priest.
  
  As an editor of Anglican and Episcopal History magazine, John has done what editors of professional history journals are supposed to do, and has done it exceedingly well: he has reminded people of the importance of the past, disseminated new knowledge, encouraged young researchers and made good use of senior ones, promoted attention to topics, that might otherwise be ignored, drawn the best out of his contributors and developed a sense of scholarly fellowship among those, who have worked with him.
  
  But in addition, and maybe even more importantly, John has made the church a better place, particularly the Anglican part of it. By opening mankind's eyes to the past, he has helped people see, where the church is in the present, and where it needs to go in the future. He has done so, for example, by promoting the study of the laity; by reminding people of those many historical figures, who lived out of "an enormous respect for the church and for the kindliness and decency toward others for which it stood"; by recruiting articles on "the total genius of Anglicanism", highlighting its "principled diversity"; and by giving full attention to the global reality of Anglican Christianity.

Works

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• book

  • Colonial Anglicanism in North America

    (A comprehensive account of the Church of England in pre-r...)

    1984
  • The Education of Phillips Brooks

    (Studies in Angelican History.)

    1995
  • Robert H. Gardiner and the Reunification of Worldwide Christianity in the Progressive Era

    (In this work, John F. Woolverton incorporates Gardiner’s ...)

    2005
  • The beauty of North Devon 1952
  • The beauty of Dorset 1953

Views

John's work was influenced by Richard Hofstadter, Robert T. Handy and Wilhelm Pauck and most profoundly and lastingly by Hans W. Frei of Yale University.

Membership

John is a member of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church, American Society of Church History, St. Botolph Club and Squadron A Club.

Connections

John married Margaret Ann Richardson on July 1, 1950. Their marriage produced four children - Charles, Mary Sims, Susan Rozelle and Arthur.

Father:

William Henderson Woolverton

Mother:

Frances (Curtis) Woolverton

child:

Charles Woolverton

child:

Mary Sims Woolverton

child:

Susan Rozelle Woolverton

child:

Arthur Woolverton

Wife:

Margaret Ann Richardson