WRIGHT, GEORGE FREDERICK
(22 January 1838, Whitehall, NY- 20 April 1921, Oberlin, OH). Education: B.A., Oberlin College, 1859; B.D. Oberlin Seminary, 1862. Career: Minister, Bakersfield, VT, 1862-72; minister, Andover, MA, 1872-81; professor of New Testament languages and literature, Oberlin Seminary, 1881-92; professor of harmony of science and revelation, Oberlin Seminary, 1892-1907; professor emeritus, 1907-21; editor, Bibliotheca Sacra, 1883-1921; noted amateur geologist.
The main feature of George Frederick Wright's career is indicated by the chair created for him at Oberlin, the professorship of harmony of science and revelation. Wright was in many respects an orthodox Congregationalist. For almost four decades he edited the theologically conservative Bibliotheca Sacra. But like many other Congregationalists at that time he was fascinated by the new discoveries of biology and geology.
By chance his second pastorate, at Andover, Massachusetts, placed him near a gravel ridge that geologists at first attributed to marine action. Wright studied it and decided that it must have been caused by glacial activity. He published his findings, won the support of leading geologists, and so embarked on a "hobby" that led him to undertake some of the major geological explorations of his time. At various times in his life he studied the great terminal moraine that runs from New York to Illinois, he made the first scientific study of the Muir Glacier in Alaska, he explored Greenland, and he traveled across Asia through Turkestan. He published his findings in several books; the best known is The Ice Age in North America (1889).
Typical of the era during which he lived, Wright was confident that science and traditional religion were compatible. He justified biblical miracles by arguing that they were consistent with a scientific understanding of the world. Even the parting of the Red Sea, the destruction of Sodom, and the fire from the sky that consumed Elijah's sacrifice could be explained by science. Wright collaborated with the great Harvard botanist Asa Gray, to write a series of essays arguing the compatibility of Darwinism and religion. Because Wright was prominent as both a geologist and a theologian, his claim that religion and science were compatible was especially comforting in an age when the two modes of thought sometimes seemed to lead in different directions.
Bibliography
A: The Logic of Christian Evidences (Andover, Mass., 1880); Studies in Science and Religion (Andover. Mass., 1882); The Ice Age in North America and Its Bearings on the Antiquity of Man (New York, 1889); Scientific Confirmations of Old Testament History (Oberlin. Ohio. 1906); Origin and Antiquity of Man (Oberlin, Ohio, 1912); Story of My Life and Work (Oberlin, Ohio, 1916).
B: DAB 20. 550-51; DARB, 534-35; NCAB 7. 66; NIT 21 April 1921, 13; SH, 12. 445.
The main feature of George Frederick Wright's career is indicated by the chair created for him at Oberlin, the professorship of harmony of science and revelation. Wright was in many respects an orthodox Congregationalist. For almost four decades he edited the theologically conservative Bibliotheca Sacra. But like many other Congregationalists at that time he was fascinated by the new discoveries of biology and geology.
By chance his second pastorate, at Andover, Massachusetts, placed him near a gravel ridge that geologists at first attributed to marine action. Wright studied it and decided that it must have been caused by glacial activity. He published his findings, won the support of leading geologists, and so embarked on a "hobby" that led him to undertake some of the major geological explorations of his time. At various times in his life he studied the great terminal moraine that runs from New York to Illinois, he made the first scientific study of the Muir Glacier in Alaska, he explored Greenland, and he traveled across Asia through Turkestan. He published his findings in several books; the best known is The Ice Age in North America (1889).
Typical of the era during which he lived, Wright was confident that science and traditional religion were compatible. He justified biblical miracles by arguing that they were consistent with a scientific understanding of the world. Even the parting of the Red Sea, the destruction of Sodom, and the fire from the sky that consumed Elijah's sacrifice could be explained by science. Wright collaborated with the great Harvard botanist Asa Gray, to write a series of essays arguing the compatibility of Darwinism and religion. Because Wright was prominent as both a geologist and a theologian, his claim that religion and science were compatible was especially comforting in an age when the two modes of thought sometimes seemed to lead in different directions.
Bibliography
A: The Logic of Christian Evidences (Andover, Mass., 1880); Studies in Science and Religion (Andover. Mass., 1882); The Ice Age in North America and Its Bearings on the Antiquity of Man (New York, 1889); Scientific Confirmations of Old Testament History (Oberlin. Ohio. 1906); Origin and Antiquity of Man (Oberlin, Ohio, 1912); Story of My Life and Work (Oberlin, Ohio, 1916).
B: DAB 20. 550-51; DARB, 534-35; NCAB 7. 66; NIT 21 April 1921, 13; SH, 12. 445.