Arthur Cushman McGiffert

1861-1933. American church historian and educator. Born at Sauquoit, New York, he graduated from Western Reserve College and Union Theological Seminary, afterward pursuing studies in Paris, Rome, Berlin, and Marburg (Ph.D., 1888). Ordained to the Presbyterian ministry, he taught church history in Lane Theological Seminary (1888-93) before succeeding Philip Schaff* as professor of church history at Union in 1893, where he was subsequently also president (1917-26). Under the influence of Harnack, he wrote A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age (1897). His ideas aroused such opposition that he withdrew from the Presbyterian Church and became a Congregationalist (1899). Other major works include a translation of Eusebius's Church History (1890); The Apostles' Creed (1902); Protestant Thought Before Kant (1911); Martin Luther, the Man and His Work (1911); The Rise of Modern Religious Ideas (1915); The God of the Early Christians (1924); and A History of Christian Thought (2 vols., 1931-33).