Mathews, Shailer (1863 - 1941)

Genre: Non-Fiction - Scholarly

Theologian, educator and author Shailer Mathews was born and raised in Portland,ME. He attended Colby College, Newton Theological Institution in Newton, MA and the University of Berlin. He taught at Colby from 1887-1894, then at the University of Chicago Divinity School where he was dean from 1908 until retiring in 1933.

He was a leader of the Social Gospel movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Movement's doctrine included the interpretation of the Kingdom of God as requiring both social as well as individual salvation.

He published prolifically, including many books and hundreds of articles. His autobiography, New Faith for Old is considered to be a significant document for the history of the U.S. Social Gospel movement.

Selected Bibliography

  • The Church and the Changing Order (1907?)
  • The Gospel and the Modern Man (1910)
  • The Spiritual Interpretation of History (1927)
  • Jesus on Social Institutions (1928)
  • The Atonement and the Social Process(1930)
  • The Growth of the Idea of God (1931)
  • New Testament Times in Palestine, 175 BC - 135 AD (1933)
  • Immortality and the Cosmic Process (1933)
  • Christianity and Social Process (1934)
  • Creative Christianity (1935)
  • New Faith for Old: An Autobiography (1936)
  • The Church and the Christian (1938)

Selected Resources