James Oliver Buswell | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1895-01-16)January 16, 1895 |
| Died | February 4, 1977(1977-02-04) (aged 82) |
| Occupation | Theological college president |
| Academic background | |
| Education | University of Minnesota,McCormick Theological Seminary,University of Chicago |
| Alma mater | New York University (PhD) |
| Thesis | The Philosophies of F. R. Tennant and John Dewey (1949) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Biblical studies and Systematic theology |
| Institutions | Wheaton College National Bible Institute of New York City Shelton College Covenant College Covenant Theological Seminary |
| Notable works | A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion in 2 vols. |
James Oliver Buswell, Jr. (January 16, 1895 – February 4, 1977) was a Presbyterian theologian, educator and institution builder.
Buswell was born inBurlington, Wisconsin.[1] He received an A.B. from theUniversity of Minnesota (1917), a B.D. fromMcCormick Theological Seminary (1923), an M.A. from theUniversity of Chicago, and his Ph.D. fromNew York University (1949).
He served as a chaplain in the 140th Infantry duringWorld War I. After pastorates in a Presbyterian church inMilwaukee (1919–1922) and a Reformed church inBrooklyn (1922–26), Buswell served as president ofWheaton College from 1926 to 1940. He then served as president of theNational Bible Institute of New York City, and its successor,Shelton College, inRingwood, New Jersey from 1941 to 1955. And finally, in 1956, he became dean ofCovenant College (1956–1964) andCovenant Theological Seminary (1956–1970) inSt. Louis, Missouri. The libraries at both Wheaton College and Covenant Theological Seminary were named in his honor, though the Wheaton board of trustees voted in 2023 to remove Buswell's name because of his refusal to admit Black students in the 1930s.[2]
In January 1926, the young Rev. Buswell was on the campus of Wheaton College to deliver a week's worth of chapel sermons. Within weeks, college trustees invited Buswell to become Wheaton's third president (and first ever not named Blanchard). He was the youngest college president at 31 years old. Over the next 14 years, Buswell oversaw a significant period of growth in both numbers and academic rigor. He guided the college through the process of accreditation, bolstered its curriculum (especially in the sciences), increased the percentage of full-time faculty with Ph.D.'s from 24% to 49%, and saw the enrollment grow from 400 to 1,100.[3] However, Buswell's staunchCalvinism,fundamentalist separatism and his reportedly difficult temperament made his tenure at Wheaton an uneasy one. After years of contentious relations on campus, the Wheaton board of trustees fired Buswell.[4]
Although not adispensationalist, he was apremillennialist who believed in what pre-tribulationists call a "mid-tribulationrapture." (Actually, he believed that the Bible term tribulation only applies to the 2nd half of Daniel's 70th week; thus a so-called "mid-tribulationist" may well call himself a "pre-tribulationist.") He authored dozens of articles and eleven books, most notably,A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion, 2 vols. (1962–63, out-of-print). Peculiar beliefs of Buswell include his theory that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ and that God's omnipresence does not mean that His existence extends throughout the universe—one may think of the universe as in God's lap.
Buswell was a staunchCalvinist who held to theWestminster Standards andcovenant theology. He was considered a fundamentalist given his firm stand against the modernist accommodation within mainline Protestant denominations and his insistence on holding to the historic fundamentals (basics) of Christian doctrine.
In 1936, he was dismissed from the ministry of thePresbyterian Church in the U.S.A. for the part that he played in the Independent Mission Board controversy, and became a figure in the founding of what would become theOrthodox Presbyterian Church. The following year, he joined another fundamentalistCarl McIntire in forming theBible Presbyterian Church. He would later participate in theEvangelical Presbyterian Church (formerly the Bible Presbyterian Church, Columbus Synod) and theReformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod.
Buswell married Helen (née Spaulding) in 1918 and together they had four children, Jane, James III, Ruth, and John. His grandson and namesake was the virtuoso violinist,James O. Buswell IV (Dec. 4, 1946 - Sept. 28, 2021).[5]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)—originally published in 2 volumesBuswell, James Oliver III [12 January 1922 - 8 August 2011]
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President ofWheaton College 1926–1940 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President ofShelton College 1941–1955 | Succeeded by |
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| National | |
| Other | |
