Andover Newton Theological School - Notable Persons

Notable Persons

There have been many notable graduates of Andover Theological Seminary and Newton Theological Institution, as well as Andover Newton Theological School. Collectively, they have had a wide and profound influence on American life and values, extending well beyond church ministry and missionary work into higher education, the creation of the American public school and public library systems, pioneering work with disabled and disadvanaged groups, the abolition of slavery and promotion of the modern civil rights movement, even the creation of the "national hymn," "America."

Prior to the American Civil War, when there were few fully developed graduate programs in the United States, the two schools trained some of the nation's most important scholars, linguists, social activists, educational innovators, and college presidents as well as many of its leading Protestant clergy.

Adoniram Judson, class of 1810, is one of the earliest notable alumni and among the first U.S. missionaries sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He later became a Baptist missionary to Myanmar, then known as Burma. Thomas Hopkins Gaullaudet, class of 1814, was the founder of education for the deaf in the United States, established the first American school for the deaf, and was the principal developer of what became American Sign Language. Gaulladet University in Washington, DC, was renamed in his honor in 1893. Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston, class of 1816, were the first missionaries to Hawaii, where they devised an alphabet for written Hawaiian. Francis Wayland entered Andover Theological Seminary in 1816 but was too poor to complete his studies there. He later helped found Newton Theological Institution. Like two later Newton alumni, Wayland was president of Brown University. He held the position for 28 years and is remembered as one of that school's most important early leaders.

David Oliver Allen, class of 1824, was an American missionary. Calvin Ellis Stowe, class of 1828 and later a faculty member at Andover, is considered one of the creators of the American public school system. He published widely on issues of public education and established the College of Teachers in Cincinnati. A prominent abolitionist, he was married to Harriett Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and was an enthusiastic supporter of her literary career.

Nehemiah Adams, class of 1829, was a clergyman and author. Bela Bates Edwards, class of 1830, was editor of American Quarterly Observer, Biblical Repository, and Bibliotheca Sacra. William Adams, class of 1830, was one of the founders of the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and later its president. Caleb Mills, class of 1833, was the founding president and first faculty member of Wabash College is considered the father of the Indiana public education system. Samuel Francis Smith, class of 1834, was the Baptist minister who wrote the words to America or My Country, 'Tis of Thee while still a student on the Andover campus (where his dormitory, still in use at Phillips Academy, is now known as "America House").

George Frederick Magoun, class of 1847, was co-founder and the first president of Grinnell College George Park Fisher, class of 1851, was a church historian and president of the American Historical Association. Charles Augustus Aiken, class of 1853, was a noted professor of Latin at Dartmouth, the sixth president of Union College, and later taught at Princeton Theological Seminary. William Jewett Tucker, class of 1866 and later an Andover faculty member, was described at his death as "the great president" of Dartmouth College who transformed a small, rural, regional school into a major Ivy League university. The Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth was founded to carry on his legacy on campus. George Trumbull Ladd, class of 1869, was an American philosopher, educator, and psychologist. William Scott Ament, class of 1877, was a controversial Congregational missionary to China criticised by Mark Twain.

Claude Black, class of 1943, was pastor of Mt. Zion First Baptist Church, a civil rights icon, and politician. Albert Edward Winship is known for his work as an educator, and Joseph Hardy Neesima did not graduate, but was the founder and president of Doshisha University in Japan. Ferdinand "Frank" Fuentes is the founding executive director of the Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University.

Lucius Walker, a 1958 graduate, was a Baptist minister best known for his opposition to the United States embargo against Cuba.

Among the important theologians, clergy, and scholars who have taught at the school are alumni Calvin Ellis Stowe and William Jewett Tucker, the distinguished theologian and church historian George Foot Moore, the poet, critic and New Testament scholar Amos Niven Wilder (brother of the writer Thornton Wilder), theologian Harvey Cox, author of "The Secular City," scholar of Christian social ethics, international peace activist, and vice president of the National Council of Churches Jane Cary Peck and community organizer and internationally known missiologist, Orlando E. Costas.

Current faculty includes alumnus S. Mark Heim, Sarah Drummond, and Carole R. Fontaine.

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