1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Shedd, William Greenough Thayer

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22314961911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 24 — Shedd, William Greenough Thayer

SHEDD, WILLIAM GREENOUGH THAYER (1820-1894), American, Presbyterian, was born in Acton, Massachusetts, on the 21st of June 1820. In 1839 he graduated at the University of Vermont, and in 1843 at Andover Theological Seminary. After a short pastorate at Brandon, Vermont, he was successively professor of English literature in the University of Vermont (1845-1852), professor of sacred rhetoric in Auburn Theological Seminary (1852-1854), professor of church history in Andover Theological Seminary (1854-1862), and, after one year (1862-1863) as associate pastor of the Brick Church of New York City, of sacred literature (1863-1374) and of systematic theology (1874-1890) in Union Theological Seminary. He died in New York City on the 17th of November 1894.

Dr Shedd was a high Calvinist and was one of the greatest systematic theologians of the American Presbyterian church. His great work was Dogmatic Theology (3 vols., 1888-1894). He also wrote Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1856), in which he applied to history the doctrine of organic evolution; Discourses and Essays (1856); A Manual of Church History (2 vols., 1857), a translation of Guericke; A History of Christian Doctrine (2 vols., 1863); Theological Essays (1877); Literary Essays (1878); Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (1879); The Doctrine of Endless Punishment (1885); and he edited Coleridge's Complete Works (7 vols., New York, 1894).