Shailer Mathews was the Dean of the Divinity School of the University of Chicago from 1908 to 1933. He was a prolific author and part of the Social Gospel Movement.
He was born May 26, 1863 and Died October 23, 1941.
He graduated from Colby College and then the Newton Theological Seminary. Between his middle and final year at the seminary he had his only experience as a pastor. He spent three months in a parish of 22 families in Eastern Maine. His experiences that summer led him to choose a career as a teacher rather than a pastor.
At barely twenty four years of age he began his teaching career at what was then known as Colby University. It had eight faculty members and remained much the same as it had been when he graduated there three years earlier. He persuaded the faculty to allow him to give an elementary Hebrew course for students who were planning to go to theological seminaries.
He married Mary Philbrick Elden in 1890 and went to Berlin to study history and political economy. History students at that time in Germany had almost no contact with theology students, and Shailer was always thankful that his apprenticeship in history was not in the theological field.
The writings of Washington Gladden, Josiah Strong, and Richard T. Ely interested him in the relationship of Christianity to society. The seven years between his graduation from the seminary and going to work in Chicago were important to his development as they caused him to look at historical problems based on the facts rather than through the lens of theological conclusions.
In 1894 he went to the University of Chicago Divinity School. He started as an Associate Professor of New Testament History. In 1908 became the Dean of the Divinity School, a position he held until his retirement in 1933.
He was active in many organizations outside of the University.
In The Individual and the Social Gospel
The Individual and the Social Gospel