Costen Jordan Harrell

Costen Jordan Harrell (February 12, 1885 – 1971) was a bishop of The Methodist Church in the United States, elected in 1944.

Birth and family

Costen was born on 12 February 1885 on his grandfather's plantation, about five miles north of Sunbury, Gates County, North Carolina. He is of early English American descent, with a Methodist inheritance on both sides of his family. His great grandfather was a class leader under Bishop Francis Asbury. Costen was the son of Samuel Isaac and Isadore (Costen) Harrell. Costen married Amy Patton Walden 6 June 1917.

Education

Costen earned the A.B. degree in 1906 from Trinity College (now Duke University). He earned the B.D. and M.A. degrees in 1910 from Vanderbilt University.

Honorary degrees

Randolph-Macon College honored Rev. Harrell with the D.D. degree in 1929. Duke University did the same in 1940. Birmingham-Southern College awarded the Litt.D. in 1945.

Ordained ministry

Harrell entered the Traveling Ministry of the Tennessee Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1909. He was ordained in 1911. Rev. Harrell served the following appointments in North Carolina: Epworth Church, Raleigh (1910–13); Calvary Church, Durham (1913–16), then Trinity Church, Durham (1916–19); and First Church, Wilson (1919–20). In Georgia, Rev. Harrell served First Church, Atlanta (1920–25). In Virginia, Rev. Harrell served Epworth Church, Norfolk (1925–29) and Monument Church, Richmond (1929–33). Rev. Harrell was then sent to West End Church in Nashville, Tennessee (1933–44), from which he was elected to the Episcopacy.

Episcopal ministry

Prior to his election to the Episcopacy, he served as a pastor. In the reunification of U.S. Methodism (1939) he was the Secretary of the Committee on Temporal Economy and Lay Activities.

Selected writings

The Bible: Its Origin and Growth, paper covers, 190 pp., 1926.
Walking with God, 1928; another edition, 1946.
In the School of Prayer,' 1929.
Friends of God, 1931.
Prophets of Israel, 1933.
The Radiant Heart, paper covers, 1936.
The Methodist Child's Membership Manual, 1940.
The Way of the Transgressor, 1941.
The Word of His Grace - Studies in Ephesians, paper, 78 pp., 1943.

References

Howell, Clinton T., Prominent Personalities in American Methodism, Birmingham, Alabama: The Lowry Press, 1945.
Leete, Frederick DeLand, Methodist Bishops. Nashville, The Methodist Publishing House, 1948.