Richard Beard

Background

Richard Beard was born on November 27, 1799, in Sumner County, Tennessee, the son of John and Mary (Bartley) Beard.

Education

After some years of circuit-riding, schoolteaching, and study, Richard entered Cumberland College in Princeton, Kentucky. Upon graduation he was appointed to the faculty of the college.

Career

In 1838 Richard Beard took charge of Sharon Academy in Mississippi, but within a few years returned to Cumberland College to become in 1843 its president. Believing in the desirability of a better-educated clergy, he aided in the establishment by his Church of a theological department in Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee. To this department, as its first professor of systematic theology, Beard went in 1854, and there he spent the most fruitful years of his life.

In the earlier years of this service, inadequately paid, overworked, at times in despair because of the little encouragement given him, he was the only professor in the department and taught almost the whole theological course, including Hebrew, the Greek Testament, evidences of Christianity, and systematic theology. Nevertheless, shortly before the Civil War, he was able to begin putting into printed form his lectures on theology, the "crystallization of Cumberland Presbyterian thought and faith. " After the war, in addition to his work in the theological department, he taught for some years as professor of Latin and Greek in the college department. Moreover, he continued publication of his theological lectures and other products of his pen. Beard served on several occasions as church moderator, and was prominent in committee work, particularly in support of education and of reunion with the Presbyterian Church.

Achievements

• Richard Beard served as president of Sharon Academy in Mississippi and Cumberland College. Beard's published writings are as follows: Lectures on Theology (three volumes, 1860, 1864, 1870); Who Am I a Cumberland Presbyterian? (1870); Brief Biographical Sketches of Some of the Early Ministers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, two volumes (1867, 1874); and Miscellaneous Sermons, Reviews and Essays (1875).

Works

More photos

• book

  • Brief Biographical Sketches of Some of the Early Ministers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church

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

  • Why Am I A Cumberland Presbyterian? (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Why Am I A Cumberland Presbyterian? Has per...)

  • The Writings of Richard Beard (Cumberland Presbyterian Biography) (Volume 1)

    (In the nineteenth century, Richard Beard wrote two books ...)

Connections

On January 21, 1834, Richard Beard married Cynthia Ewing Castleman.

Father:

John Beard

Mother:

Mary (Bartley) Beard

Wife:

Cynthia Ewing (Castleman) Beard

Daughter:

Margaret A. (Beard) Cannon

Son:

William Dwight Beard

Son:

Edward Ewing Beard