William Wallace Fenn

Background

He was born in Boston, Massachussets, the only son of William Wallace and Hannah Morrill (Osgood) Fenn. His parents had recently moved to Boston from Weston, Vermont, and when William was about seven weeks old the father died.

Education

He was graduated from the Boston Latin School in 1881; from Harvard with the highest honors in classics in 1884; and from the Harvard Divinity School with the degree of S. T. B. and A. M. in 1887.

While yet a divinity student he assisted Prof. Joseph H. Thayer in the making of his great Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1887).

Career

Fenn began his ministry as the acting pastor of the newly organized Unity Church of Pittsfield, Massachussets, but was not ordained until the church building was dedicated in 1890. From 1892 to 1901 he held the Shaw Lectureship in Biblical Literature at the Meadville Theological School, and for a second time from 1905 to 1907. At Meadville he formed a close association with Prof. George B. Foster.

From 1896 to 1898 and from 1902 to 1905, he was on the board of preachers at Harvard. Upon the death of Dean Charles C. Everett of the Harvard Divinity School in 1900, Fenn was invited to become his successor as Bussey Professor of Theology, and he entered upon his duties as such the year following.

From 1906 to 1922 he was also dean. He proved himself an exceptional teacher, eager to awaken the minds of his students, always respecting their intelligence, and never imposing his views upon them. He was critical of dogmas but reverent before the truth, always seeking thoroughly to understand before he criticized.

Frequently in his discourses there was a play of rare wit and humor. One of his most interesting lectures, in fact, was on "The Humor of the Bible. " He did not write much--he feared fixity of thought, the mind chained to what it had said before--and died with more unwritten knowledge, perhaps, especially of New England theology, than any man living.

His death came after a brief illness and the following spring he was buried in Weston, Vermont.

Achievements

• What he wrote, however, was of worth. When he was a pastor he prepared for his church school: Lessons on the Gospel of Luke (1890); Lessons on the Acts of the Apostles (1894); Flowering of the Hebrew Religion (1894); and Lessons on the Psalms (1900). He delivered the Essex Hall Lectures in London, which were published there in 1924 under the title The Christian Way of Life as Illustrated in the History of Religion in New England, and the Harvard Ingersoll Lectures, which were published with the title Immortality and Theism (1921). A posthumous volume, The Theological Method of Jesus, appeared in 1938.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Immortality and Theism

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • The Harvard Theological Review, Volume 1

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

  • The Theological Method Of Jesus A Course Of Lectures In The Summer School Harvard University 1905

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

  • Immortality and Theism FACSIMILE

    (High Quality Facsimile Reporduction: Fenn, William Wallac...)

  • The Religious History of New England;

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Religious History of New England;

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Ingersoll Lecture, 1921 Immortality and Theism

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • book

  • The Theological Method of Jesus: A Course of Lectures in the Summer School, Harvard University, 1905
  • Immortality and theism. by William Wallace Fenn
  • The Bible in theology: An address delivered before the national conference of Unitarian and other Christian churches

Religion

In March of the following year he was called to the First Unitarian Church, Chicago, with which he remained until 1900.

Views

Of his writings the three which show the quality of his thought, the critical character of his mind, his philosophical position, and the wealth of his religious life, are the last three.

Personality

He was large, strong and vigorous of body, and had an impressive personality.

Though somewhat reserved, modest, and even shy, he was a man of friendliness and deep sympathy, hating shams, loving the genuine, and seeing the good in obscure lives.

Connections

He was married on May 28, 1891, to Faith Huntington Fisher of Lanesboro, Massachussets, by whom he had five children--Dorothy, Wallace, Roger, Donald, and Dan.

Wife:

Faith Huntington Fisher

daughter Dorothy Fenn son Wallace Fenn son Roger Fenn son Donald Fenn son Dan Fenn

father:

William Wallace

mother Hannah Morrill (Osgood) Fenn

References

• William Wallace Fenn, In Memoriam