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The Reverend
Horton Davies
Henry W. Putnam professor emeritus
Black-and-white newspaper photograph of Horton Davies. This portrait focuses on the face. Davies is male, balding, Caucasian, and faces the camera with a neutral expression. He wears a dark suit jacket, a white collared shirt, and a polkadot necktie.
Born
Horton Marlais Davies

(1916-03-10)March 10, 1916
Port Talbot, South Wales
DiedMay 11, 2005(2005-05-11) (aged 89)
Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Education
Occupations

Horton Marlais Davies (March 10, 1916 – May 11, 2005) was a Wales-born Protestant minister, historian of Christianity, and painter. After receiving degrees from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Oxford, he became the minister of Wallington and Carshalton Congregational Church in London in 1942, holding that position through World War II. From 1945 to 1946, he worked in Germany as a director of education for the YMCA, affiliated with the British Army of the Rhine.

Davies began a professorial career in 1947 at Rhodes University, where he was hired to be part of South Africa's first program for training English-speaking Protestant clergy. He later worked for the University of Oxford as head of the Department of Church History at Mansfield College, and thereafter for Princeton University to help launch a new postgraduate education program in the Department of Religion. In 1959 he was appointed to Princeton's Henry W. Putnam endowed professorship. Across his career, Davies wrote more than thirty books, including the five-volume Worship and Theology in England.

After retiring, Davies took up painting, creating at least fifty works. He died in Princeton, New Jersey.

Childhood and education[edit]

Horton Marlais Davies was born on March 10, 1916, to David Dorian Marlais Davies, a Christian minister, and Martha Reid Davies in Port Talbot, South Wales.[1] Raised in Wales,[2] Horton Davies went on to attend the University of Edinburgh, there earning a Master of Arts degree in English in 1937 and a Bachelor of Divinity for systematic theology in 1940,[3] and he afterward earned a D. Phil. at Mansfield and St. Catherine's Colleges, Oxford in 1943.[2][3]

Career[edit]

Davies began as a minister at Wallington and Carshalton Congregational Church with his first service held July 19, 1942.[4] The church was located in a part of London nicknamed "Flying Bomb Alley" during World War II for the many bombs dropped on it.[5][6] His first service was held July 19, 1942.[4] In October 1945, he became a YMCA director of education for the British Army of the Rhine in Germany,[7] where he oversaw recreational centres in Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.[8] He concluded his time as director of education in April 1946, returning to his ministry at Wallington and Carshalton Congregational, where his last service was on November 10, 1946.[7]

In December 1946, Davies moved to South Africa, hired onto the faculty of Rhodes University to staff the first South African university program for training English-language Protestant ministers.[7] Davies began working in 1947, and during his time at Rhodes he acted as dean of divinity faculty from 1951 to 1953.[8] He earned a Doctor of Divinity degree at the University of South Africa in 1951,[9] and he chaired the Congregational Union of South Africa in 1953.[1] Davies affiliated with Reformed Christianity.[10]

The University of Oxford hired Davies to head its Mansfield College Department of Church History in 1953,[6] and he worked there until 1956.[1] In 1956, Davies took a position at Princeton University's Department of Religion and helped the department launch a new postgraduate education program.[6][11][12] He was appointed to the Henry W. Putnam endowed professorship in 1959.[13] On May 10, 1961, Davies spoke at Lehigh University's Conference on Religion in an address criticizing "churches and synagogues" in South Africa for their "responsibility for the situation" of Apartheid, averring religious leaders had "made God in their own image and made him a white God".[14]

Davies received a Guggenheim Fellowship from 1959 to 1960,[15]: 246  and again for 1964 to 1965,[16] funding research on the history of how Christians in England worshipped.[17] This research was published as Davies's multivolume Worship and Theology in England.[2] The product of fifteen years of research, it was praised as a "great work" by The Guardian, and the academic journal Church History called it "a major achievement in our age, and an unprecedented one in any age".[18][19]: 434  The New York Times remembered Worship and Theology as "his most important work",[3] and Religion and American Culture retrospectively called it "highly regarded".[20]: 13 

During the 1960s, Davies held visiting positions at multiple institutions, including the Pacific School of Religion, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary.[1] In 1978, Davies joined several other New Jersey professors in inaugurating a liturgical studies program at Drew University.[6]

Later life[edit]

Davies retired in 1984, becoming Henry W. Putnam professor emeritus.[8][21] After retiring, he took up painting with an interest in still life and depicting church settings.[6] The Princeton Day School's Anne Reid Gallery displayed fifty of Davies's paintings in an exhibition open from January 11, 1992, to February 13.[21] He affiliated with the United Church of Christ.[1] Davies died on May 11, 2005, in Princeton, New Jersey.[22]

Selected works[edit]

Across his life, Davies wrote more than thirty books.[8] He specialized in Christianity's influence on creative work.[3]

  • Davies, Horton (1948). The Worship of the English Puritans. Dacre Press.[23]
  • — (1951). Great South African Christians. Oxford University Press.[1]
  • — (1952). The English Free Churches. Oxford University Press.[24]
  • — (1954). Christian Deviations: The Challenge of the Sects. S. C. M. Press.[1]
  • — (1957). Christian Worship: Its History and Meaning. Abingdon.[1]
  • — (1959). A Mirror of the Ministry in Modern Novels. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1125968352.[25]
  • — (1961–1975). Worship and Theology in England. Vol. 1–5. Princeton University Press.[1]
  • — (1963). Varieties of English Preaching, 1900–1960. S. C. M.[26]
  • —; Davies, Hugh (1978). Sacred Art in a Secular Century. Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0814609705.[27]
  • —; Davies, Marie-Hélène (1982). Holy Days and Holidays: The Medieval Pilgrimage to Compostela. Bucknell University Press.[28]: 398 
  • — (1984). Catching the Conscience: Essays on Religion and Literature. Cowley.[29]
  • — (1986). Like Angels from a Cloud: The English Metaphysical Preachers, 1588–1645. Huntington Library. ISBN 978-0873280884.[30]
  • — (1990). The Worship of the American Puritans, 1629–1730. Peter Lang. ISBN 0-8204-1222-8.[31]
  • — (1992). The Vigilant God: Providence in the Thought of Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, and Barth. Peter Lang. ISBN 0-8204-1496-4.[32]
  • — (1993). A Church Historian's Odyssey: A Memoir. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.[33]: 498 

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Horton (Marlais) Davies". Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors. Gale. September 28, 2005.
  2. ^ a b c "Princeton Theologian at St. John's". St. Cloud Times. October 25, 1965. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c d Saxon, Wolfgang (May 14, 2005). "Horton M. Davies, 89, an Authority on Christianity's Impact on the Arts". The New York Times. p. 14 – via Gale in Context.
  4. ^ a b "Wallington and Carshalton Congregational Church". The Sutton and Cheam Advertiser. July 16, 1942. p. 2.
  5. ^ "The Clergy in Fiction". Church Bookshelf. Oklahoma City Star. October 30, 1959. p. 6.
  6. ^ a b c d e Stevens, Ruth (May 30, 2005). "Horton Davies, Scholar of Religious History, Dies at Age 89". Princeton Weekly Bulletin. Vol. 94, no. 28.
  7. ^ a b c "Minister's Appointment: Rev. Horton Davies for South Africa". The Sutton and Cheam Advertiser. October 17, 1946. p. 4.
  8. ^ a b c d Barker, Ken (October 3, 2008). "Horton Davies and Modern Literature". The Sun Times. p. B4.
  9. ^ "Dr. Horton Davies Speaks Sunday to Tunbridge Parish". The Times Argus. August 15, 1962. p. 8.
  10. ^ "Our 'Unhappy' Divisions?". The Guardian. March 31, 1952. p. 3.
  11. ^ "Princeton Offers Religion Program Graduate Courses". Oklahoma City Star. July 15, 1955. p. 5.
  12. ^ "Professor Will Preach". The Courier-News. May 21, 1966. p. 14.
  13. ^ "Carnegie, Princeton Officials Named as Commecement Speakers at Lehigh". The Morning Call. May 13, 1967.
  14. ^ "Church Role in S. Africa Outlined". The Morning Call. May 11, 1961. p. 10.
  15. ^ "Historical News". The American Historical Review. 65 (1): 241–252. October 1959. doi:10.1086/550275. JSTOR 1846654.
  16. ^ "5 Penn Professors, 6 from Princeton, Get Guggenheim Awards". The Philadelphia Inquirer. March 30, 1964. p. 1.
  17. ^ "Area Educators Get Guggenheim Awards". The Philadelphia Inquirer. April 20, 1959. p. 21.
  18. ^ "Worship and Theology in England: The Ecumenical Century, 1900–1965". The Guardian. November 4, 1966. p. 7.
  19. ^ White, James F. (December 1978). "Writing the History of English Worship: The Achievement of Horton Davies". Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture. 47 (4): 434–440. doi:10.2307/3164318. JSTOR 3164318.
  20. ^ "Forum". Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation. 17 (1): 1–25. Winter 2007. doi:10.1525/rac.2007.17.1.1. ISSN 1052-1151. JSTOR 10.1525/rac.2007.17.1.1.
  21. ^ a b Apgar, Evelyn (January 5, 1992). "Exhibitions Spotlight New Jersey Artists". The Central New Jersey Home News. p. C5.
  22. ^ "Horton Davies, 89, Religion Professor". The Atlanta Constitution. May 15, 2005. p. C8.
  23. ^ Stanfield, V. L. (April 1950). "The Worship of the English Puritans. By Horton Davies". Review & Expositor. 47 (2): 232. doi:10.1177/003463735004700231.
  24. ^ Wood, H. G. (March 25, 1952). "The Free Churches". Birmingham Post. p. 3.
  25. ^ Jarrett-Kerr, Martin (July 1960). "A Mirror of the Ministry in Modern Novels. By Horton Davies". Theology. 63 (481): 298–299. doi:10.1177/0040571X6006348117. ISSN 0040-571X.
  26. ^ Green, Bryan (April 8, 1963). "Still Looking for a Good Sermon". Birmingham Post. p. 3.
  27. ^ Morgan, William (April 1980). "Sacred Art in a Secular Century. By Horton Davies and Hugh Davies". Theology Today. 37 (1): 141–143. doi:10.1177/004057368003700130. ISSN 0040-5736.
  28. ^ "Books Received". Harvard Theological Review. 75 (3): 395–401. July 1982. doi:10.1017/S0017816000018423. ISSN 0017-8160. JSTOR 1509759.
  29. ^ Ross, Daniel W. (Summer 1985). "Untitled review of Catching the Conscience: Essays on Religion and Literature and Tragedy as a Critique of Virtue: The Novel and Ethical Reflection". Modern Fiction Studies. 31 (2): 452–454. ISSN 0026-7724. JSTOR 26281548.
  30. ^ Dees, Jerome S. (1988). "Horton Davies. Like Angels from a Cloud. The English Metaphysical Preachers 1588–1645". Renaissance and Reformation. 12 (2): 153–157. ISSN 0034-429X. JSTOR 43444722.
  31. ^ Porter, Harry C. (January 1993). "Untitled review of The Worship of the American Puritans, 1629–1730; The Long Argument. English Puritanism and the Shaping of New England culture, 1570–1700". The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 44 (1): 131–132. doi:10.1017/S0022046900010393. ISSN 0022-0469.
  32. ^ Wright, John H. (September 1993). "The Vigilant God: Providence in the Thought of Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin and Barth". Theological Studies. 54 (3).
  33. ^ "Other Books Received". The Catholic Historical Review. 81 (3): 497–504. July 1995. doi:10.1353/cat.1995.0080. ISSN 1534-0708.
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