American priest and writer
Walter Russell Bowie
(October 8, 1882 ? April 23, 1969), was a priest, author, editor, educator, hymn writer, and lecturer in the
Episcopal Church
.
Early and Family Life
[
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Walter Russell Bowie was born in Richmond, Virginia, actually the fourth of his family to have the same name, and with family relationships among the
First Families of Virginia
.
[1]
Nonetheless, he traveled north for his college education, receiving a B.A. (1904) and M.A. (1905) from
Harvard University
. As a Harvard undergraduate Bowie was co-editor of
The Harvard Crimson
, with
Franklin D. Roosevelt
.
He then returned to Virginia and entered the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary, now known as
Virginia Theological Seminary
in
Alexandria, Virginia
, where he earned a B.D. in 1908 (shortly after which he was ordained a deacon) and later earned a D.D. (1919).
The Rev. Mr. Bowie married Jean Laverack on September 29, 1909. His aunt was the suffragist and educationist
Mary-Cooke Branch Munford
, and novelist
James Branch Cabell
was kin as well.
[2]
Ministry
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Bowie was ordained a priest in 1909. His initial service was at
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
in
Albemarle County, Virginia
. Rev. Bowie was then called to
St. Paul's Church
in
Richmond, Virginia
where he had been baptised. He served as its rector from 1911 until called by
Grace Church
in New York City in 1923, although that service was actually interrupted by World War I (during which Bowie served as a Red Cross chaplain at Base Hospital 45 in France). While in Richmond, Bowie was editor of the
Southern Churchman
.
Bowie became known as a preacher as well as author and hymnist. Particularly in the 1920s, he advocated for what later become known as the
Social Gospel
: supporting the
League of Nations
, advocating US immigration reform, and opposing the
Ku Klux Klan
and
Fundamentalism
.
[3]
While in New York, particularly in the 1920s, Bowie joined the
American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born
, The Church League for Industrial Democracy, the Citizens’ Committee to Free
Earl Browder
, and the
Civil Rights Congress
.
[4]
Upon leaving Grace Church, Rev. Bowie remained in New York City as Professor of Pastoral Theology at
Union Theological Seminary
until 1950. He was a member of the editing team for
Interpreter's Bible series
and the Editorial Committee for
Revised Standard Version
of the Bible, which published the New Testament in 1946, Old Testament in 1952 and Apocrypha in 1957.
Bowie returned to his native Virginia in 1950, where he was a Professor of
Homiletics
at his alma mater, Virginia Theological Seminary until retiring in 1956.
Death and legacy
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Bowie remained in Alexandria, where he outlived his wife by six years; both were buried at the Virginia Theological Seminary (which also remembers the former student and professor in the periodical room of its library).
[5]
His papers are at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt library.
[6]
His most popular hymns were "O Holy City, seen of John" (in the
Hymnal 1982
), "Lord Christ, When First thou Cam'st to men", and "God of Nations, who from dawn of days".
[7]
Important works
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]
- The Story of the Bible
ISBN
0-687-39754-5
- The Story of the Church
- The Story of Jesus for Young People
- Christ be with me;: Daily meditations and personal prayers
- Lift Up Your Hearts
- Learning to Live
- "Lord Christ when first you came to Earth" (hymn written in 1928, now #598 in
The Hymnal 1982
[8]
)
- Interpreter's Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes
(editorial team with
George Arthur Buttrick
, John Knox, Samuel Terrien, Nolan B. Harmon)
- "O holy city seen of John" (now #582 in the
Hymnal 1982
)
- Revised Standard Version
of the Bible
(member of editorial committee)
Ordained ministry
[
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]
References
[
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]
- Encyclopedia of Religion in the South
- The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion
- New York Times, December 19, 1922
[1]
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