Edward Increase Bosworth Papers

Edward Increase Bosworth (1861-1927) was born in Dundee, Illinois in 1861 and grew up in Elgin, where his family ran a business selling lumber and coal. In 1879, Bosworth enrolled at Oberlin College and after two years transferred to Yale University where he received the B.A. in 1883.  He returned to Oberlin to pursue a B.D. degree at Oberlin Theological Seminary (as the Graduate School of Theology was then called), supporting himself by teaching Latin and Mathematics in the Preparatory Department. From Oberlin, he received the B.D. in 1886, the M.A. in 1893 after study at the Universities of Leipzig (1890) and Athens (1891-92), and the D.D. in 1901.  Following his ordination to the Congregational ministry, he became Pastor of the Congregational Church at Mt. Vernon, Ohio. In 1887, Bosworth was called by the Oberlin Theological Seminary to teach for the newly inaugurated English Bible course. Thus began a forty-year association with Oberlin, which included his deanship of the Graduate School of Theology (1903-23) and his service as acting President of the College (1918-19).

In 1892, Bosworth was elected Chair of New Testament Language and Literature.  As a teacher, he exerted a profound influence on generations of seminary students, many of whom felt their lives dramatically altered by his guidance and friendship. His favorite questions in class were, "Just what do you mean by that?" and "Just why do you say that?" In his teaching, according to Professor of Old Testament Kemper Fullerton (1865-1941), Bosworth enabled students "to effect an intellectual change of base without the loss of a genuine religious experience."

Bosworth's gifts as a teacher, preacher, and New Testament scholar were in high demand outside Oberlin, in churches, at conferences, institutes, and other seminaries. Several of his books became the standard texts used in the study classes of the Y.M./Y.W.C.A. These included Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles (1901), Studies in the Acts and Epistles (1898), Studies in the Life of Jesus Christ (1904), and the very popular Christ in Everyday Life (1910). His writings were praised for their author's ability to translate Christian teaching into a bold vernacular intended to appeal to working men and women.

Throughout his career, Bosworth actively promoted the work of missionaries. He served on the Board of Trustees for the Kyrias Girls School in Albania. In 1907, under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, he traveled to Japan. In 1911, he journeyed to Istanbul to attended the Conference of the World's Student Christian Federation, a student missionary organization. His last lectures, "The Christian Religion and Human Progress," were delivered in Athens at the School of Religion in 1927.

Bosworth's personal life was marred by loss. He and his wife, Bertha McClure (A.B. 1889) of Elgin, Illinois, endured the death of their oldest son, Lawrence, in 1911. Mrs. Bosworth was ill for several years before her death in 1923. Supported by his many friends, Bosworth continued to teach, having retired from the deanship in 1923. He traveled to Europe with his daughter, Sarah, in 1926. On July 1, 1927, after an attack of pneumonia, Bosworth died unexpectedly, leaving all of Oberlin stunned and bereaved.

SOURCES CONSULTED

The faculty file of Edward I. Bosworth (RG28/3) and the student file of Edward I. Bosworth (RG28).

Note written by Valerie S. Komor.