Henry Cadbury

Henry J. Cadbury
Born(1883-12-01)1 December 1883
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Died7 October 1974(1974-10-07) (aged 90)
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, US
Alma materHaverford College
Harvard University
AwardsNobel Peace Prize (on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee)
Scientific career
FieldsNew Testament
History of Christianity
InstitutionsHaverford College
Andover Theological Seminary
Bryn Mawr College
Harvard Divinity School

Henry Joel Cadbury (December 1, 1883 – October 7, 1974) was an American biblical scholar, Quaker historian, writer, and non-profit administrator.

Life

A graduate of Haverford College, Cadbury was a Quaker throughout his life, as well as an agnostic.[1] Forced out of his teaching position at Haverford for writing an anti-war letter to the Philadelphia Public Ledger, in 1918, he saw the experience as a milestone, leading him to larger service beyond his Orthodox Religious Society of Friends. He was offered a position in the Divinity School at Harvard University, from which he had received his Ph.D., but he first rejected its teacher's oath for reasons of conscience, the Quaker insistence on telling the truth, and as a form of social activism.

In 1934, Cadbury encouraged Jews to engage Nazis with good will, according to The New York Times, which characterized his stance as, "Good will, not hate or reprisals, will end, or offset, the evils of Hitler government's persecution of Jews."[2] The suggestion was repudiated by the rabbis he made it to, led by Stephen S. Wise.[3]

Cadbury accepted the Hollis Professorship of Divinity (1934–1954). He also was the director of the Harvard Divinity School Library (1938–1954), and chairman (1928–1934; 1944–1960) of the American Friends Service Committee, which he had helped found in 1917. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[4] He delivered the Nobel lecture on behalf of the AFSC when it, together with the British Friends Service Council, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends.[5] The prize was shared between the American Friends Service Committee (represented by Cadbury) and the Friends Relief Service (represented by Margaret Backhouse).[6] He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1949.[7] He was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL. D.) degree from Whittier College in 1951.[8]

Select works

Thesis

  • Cadbury, Henry J. (1919). The Style and Literary Method of Luke: Appendix to part III. Some inferences as to the detection of sources (Ph.D.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. OCLC 17893716.

Books

  • National Ideals in the Old Testament. New York: Scribner’s. 1920. OCLC 3672266.
  • The Making of Luke-Acts. New York: MacMillan. 1927. OCLC 2709946.
  • The Peril of Modernizing Jesus. Lowell Institute lectures 1935. New York: MacMillan. 1937. OCLC 2697178.
  • Jesus: What Manner of Man. Shaffer lectures, 1946. New York: MacMillan. 1947. OCLC 646147.
  • The Book of Acts in History. Lowell Institute lectures, 1953. London: A. & C. Black. 1955. OCLC 759775493.
  • Quakerism and Early Christianity. Swarthmore lecture, 1957. London: George Allen & Unwin. 1957. OCLC 1139773.
  • The Eclipse of the Historical Jesus. Pendle Hill Pamphlet. Vol. 133. Wallingford, P: Pendle Hill Publications. 1964. OCLC 1303599.
  • John Woolman in England: A Documentary Supplement. Supplement ... to the Journal of the Friends Historical Society. Vol. 31. London: Friends Historical Society. 1971. OCLC 548894.

Edited by

Journal articles

References

  1. ^ "My Personal Religion", lecture given to Harvard divinity students in 1936.
  2. ^ "Urges Good Will By Jews For Nazis". The New York Times. New York City. June 14, 1934. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  3. ^ "Good Will Barred to Nazis by Rabbis; Wise Leads Wave of Objection to Advice by Cadbury, of Society of Friends". The New York Times. New York City. June 16, 1934. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  4. ^ "Henry Joel Cadbury". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. February 9, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  5. ^ Duncan, Lucy (August 15, 2018). "Civility Can Be Dangerous". Friends Journal.
  6. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 1947". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
  7. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  8. ^ "Honorary Degrees | Whittier College". www.whittier.edu. Retrieved December 6, 2019.

Further reading

  • Bacon, Margaret H., Let This Life Speak: The Legacy of Henry Joel Cadbury. U of Pennsylvania P, 1987. ISBN 0-8122-8045-8.
  • Padilla, Osvaldo. "The Wirkungsgeschichte of Henry Joel Cadbury as an Objective Historian: An Exploration of America’s Premiere Luke–Acts Scholar." Bulletin for Biblical Research 29, no. 4 (2019): 499–510.