Shirley Jackson Case

1872-1947. Liberal church historian. Born in New Brunswick, Canada, he was educated at Acadia University, then studied theology at Yale. From 1908 to 1938 he taught NT and early church history at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and became dean there in 1933. He once remarked he was “born a liberal,” and he contributed much to the development of the liberal “Chicago School” of theology. He rejected the supernatural element in Christian belief and attempted to explain the development of Christianity solely in terms of natural environmental influences. Among Case's many books are The Evolution of Early Christianity (1914), Jesus-A New Biography (1927), Bibliographical Guide to the History of Christianity (1931), and The Christian Philosophy of History (1943).