Frank Hugh Foster Papers

Frank Hugh Foster, emeritus professor of Church History at the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology, was known as a rigorous and exacting teacher. Awarded a Ph.D. in 1882 by the University of Leipzig (Germany), he was probably the first Oberlin faculty professor to hold a doctoral degree. While studying in Europe, he was introduced to the German Seminar Method, popularized by German historian Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886). Foster brought this new methodical approach to both his private and classroom study at Oberlin. Nationally known as an expert in theology and a student of church history, Foster authored several widely recognized books in these fields.

A New Englander of Puritan ancestry, Frank Hugh Foster, son of William (1801-1867) and Mary Flagg Miller Foster (1816-1883), was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on June 19, 1851. He had one sister, Mary Matilda (1846-1849), as well as 6 half-siblings from his father. He was educated at the local high school before enrolling at Harvard College (A.B. 1873). Foster taught mathematics at the United States Naval Academy (1873-74), from which he entered Andover Theological Seminary. There he befriended school head Edwards Amasa Park. In 1877, he graduated from Andover and was ordained as a Congregational minister at North Reading, Massachusetts. His service as a minister was brief. In 1881-82 he received a Parker fellowship from Harvard University to study in Germany. In addition to his doctorate from Leipzig, he received the D.O. degree from both Chicago Theological Seminary (1894) and Olivet College (1909). In 1932, Harvard University granted him the honorary degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology.

Professor Foster served on the Oberlin theological faculty during two intervals: 1884-92 and 1926-32. Thirty-four years of teaching elsewhere separated his time at Oberlin. He began his career teaching philosophy at Middlebury College (1882-84), followed by professorships in Church History at Oberlin (1884-92) and Systematic Theology at Pacific Seminary in Berkeley, California (1892-1902). Finding little intellectual stimulation or satisfaction there, he resigned and later moved to Olivet, Michigan where he was Professor of History (1907-16) as well as pastor both at the college and Village Church (1904-07). His activities during 1902-04 are unknown.

After retiring from Olivet in 1916, he returned to live in Oberlin and resumed teaching responsibilities at the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology: homiletics (1917-18), Greek and Hebrew (1926-28), and Biblical and oriental languages (1928-32). In 1919, as a non-resident professor, he taught Biblical Literature at Lake Erie College.

Schooled in classical theology and church history, Professor Foster became one of the leading theological historians of his time. His primary focus was New England theology, which he defined in his ground breaking book, A Genetic History of New England Theology, as America's first indigenous theology and the region of its development as an epicenter of intellectual growth. He attributed its collapse to focusing on externals and neglecting human nature and the inevitable evolution of theology. Dismissing a theology that merely encompasses "a collection of learned lumber," he repeatedly wrote of the need for one rooted in experience, one that acknowledged the new sciences, and their role in shaping doctrine. Addressing the graduating class of the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology in 1932, he spoke as a minister, teacher, and scholar when he advised them to "avoid starched professionalism and to come into direct and easy relations with people."

Professor Foster also contributed to the method of historical research. In his 1888 study manual, The Seminary Method of Original Study in the Historical Sciences: Illustrated from Church History, Foster laid out what became commonly known as the 3" x 5" index card technique of note-taking. The use of 3" x 5" index cards, though originally described by Foster as "loose small sheets of paper, a quarter of a fool's cap page," became standard practice for historical research throughout the twentieth century. For more information on this topic please see the Organization of American Historians Newsletter, 35 (August 2007).

In addition to his teaching and writing, Professor Foster was keenly interested in American and foreign missions. During his first years of teaching at the Oberlin Seminary, he and his first wife, who was the daughter of a missionary to the Zulus, befriended John Langalibalele Dube (1871-1946), inviting him into their home and introducing him to Oberlin's Second Congregational Church. Dube attended school in Oberlin in the late 1880s; after returning to South Africa, he served as founding president of the organization that became the African National Congress, established the first Zulu language newspaper, and founded the Ohlange Institute in Inanda.

Foster's interest in missionary work led him to edit and publish Sela Goodrich Wright's (1816-1906) important manuscript on the Oberlin Ojibway Mission in 1891. During his years at Olivet College he continued to write and speak with vigor about the missions field.

Frank Hugh Foster was a linguist of unusual abilities. Even at the late age of 76, he learned Arabic. He taught language so successfully at Oberlin that, subsequently, some of his students pursued Arabic studies. While examining and teaching the language and its literature, Foster evolved a theory of the Arabic background for the Book of Job. In 1929, he offered a series of lectures at the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology on the relationship between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All of these activities led him in 1932 to publish A Brief Doctrinal Commentary on the Arabic Koran.

A devoted Congregationalist, Professor Foster actively participated in various religious and professional organizations and societies throughout his career. He served as secretary of the Ohio Church History Society. In May 1910, he spoke on "The Work of a College Church" at the fiftieth anniversary celebration of Second Congregational Church, Oberlin, Ohio. In May 1927, he delivered the keynote address at the annual meeting of the Ohio Conference of the Congregational Church: "Congregational Achievement During the Seventy-Five Years of the Congregational Association of Ohio."

He was a member of the Lansing, Michigan Association of Congregational Churches and later the Medina, Ohio Association.

Foster was married twice. On August 30, 1877, he married Eliza Charlotte Grout (1851-1912). They had three children: Frederick Montague (1878-1949), Harold Park (1884-1884), and Rose Katharine (1891-1975). On November 26, 1913, he married Margaret Tracy "Maggie" Algoe (1867-1920). They had no children. His nephew, Frank Hugh Foster (1870-1938), attended Oberlin 's Preparatory Department in 1887-89.

After retiring from active teaching in 1932, Frank Hugh Foster continued to live in Oberlin until his death on October 20, 1935.

Sources Consulted

Former faculty file of Frank Hugh Foster, RG 28 Alumni and Development Records.

Frank Hugh Foster Papers (RG 30/103).

Note written by Elizabeth Brinkman.