James Petigru Boyce
| James Petigru Boyce | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1827 |
| Died | 1888 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
Brown University Princeton Theological Seminary |
| Occupation | Preacher, author, seminary president and professor |
James Petigru Boyce (1827–1888) served as a Southern Baptist pastor, theologian, author, seminary professor, and founder and first president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Biography
Early life
James Petigru Boyce was born in 1827. He was educated at Brown University under Francis Wayland, whose evangelical sermons contributed to Boyce's conversion, and at Princeton Theological Seminary under Charles Hodge who led Boyce to appreciate Calvinistic theology.
Career
After completing studies at Princeton he served as pastor of the Columbia S.C. Baptist Church and as a faculty member at Furman University. In 1859 he founded the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina. The seminary was forced to close during the Civil War, and during this period Boyce served as a chaplain in the Confederate army and as a representative to the South Carolina legislature.[1] After the war ended, he restarted the seminary and moved it to Louisville, Kentucky. He taught theology from 1859 until his death in 1888 and served as the President of the institution. Throughout his ministry, Boyce insisted on the importance of theological education for all ministers. In a preface, he described his Abstract of Systematic Theology, published the year before his death, as follows: "This volume is published the rather as a practical text book, for the study of the system of doctrine taught in the Word of God, than as a contribution to theological science."
Death
Boyce died in Pau, France on December 28, 1888. He had traveled to Europe with his family in early July of 1888 and had been expecting to be traveling abroad for a number of months. News reports at the time indicated that he had been suffering from gout and that while traveling his condition worsened and became fatal.[2]
Bibliography
- Nettles, Tom J. James Petigru Boyce: a Southern Baptist Statesman. Phillipsburg, N.J: P & R Publishing, 2009.
- Nettles, Tom J., and James P. Boyce. Stray Recollections, Short Articles and Public Orations of James P. Boyce. Cape Coral, Fla: Founders Press, 2009.
- Wills, Gregory A. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1859-2009. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
See also
References
External links
- Abstract of Systematic Theology by James P. Boyce online
| Preceded by Patrick Hues Mell |
President of the Southern Baptist Convention
James Petigru Boyce |
Succeeded by Patrick Hues Mell |
| Preceded by Patrick Hues Mell |
President of the Southern Baptist Convention
James Petigru Boyce |
Succeeded by Jonathan Haralson |
Authority control  |
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