Lewis Sperry Chafer

1871-1952. American Presbyterian clergyman and educator. Born at Rock Creek, Ohio, he was educated at New Lyme Academy and at Oberlin College and Conservatory, and he entered the ministry as a gospel singer and evangelist. In 1900 he was ordained to the Congregational ministry, but after three years changed his affiliation to Presbyterian when he became professor of music at Mount Hermon School for Boys. When C.I. Scofield* helped to found Philadelphia School of the Bible (1914), Chafer joined the school as professor and remained there until moving to Dallas, Texas, in 1923. He was pastor of Scofield Memorial Church there (1923-27) and in 1924 founded Dallas Theological Seminary, where until his death Chafer served as president and professor of theology. He also edited the journal Bibliotheca Sacra. He is best known today for his eight-volume Systematic Theology (1947)-a most detailed discussion of the dispensational premillennial system of theology.