J. Oliver Buswell

James Oliver Buswell
Born (1895-01-16)January 16, 1895
Burlington, Wisconsin
Died February 4, 1977(1977-02-04) (aged 82)
Nationality American
Occupation Theological college president
Religion Christian (Presbyterian)
Academic background
Education University of Minnesota, McCormick Theological Seminary, University of Chicago
Alma mater New York University(PhD)
Thesis title The Philosophies of F. R. Tennant and John Dewey
Thesis year 1949
Academic work
Discipline Biblical studies and Systematic theology
Institutions Wheaton College
National Bible Institute of New York City
Shelton College
Covenant College
Covenant Theological Seminary
Notable works A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion in 2 vols.

James Oliver Buswell, Jr. (January 16, 1895 – February 4, 1977) was a Presbyterian professor and institution builder, who believed the fundamental doctrines of Christianity.

Education

Buswell was born in Burlington, Wisconsin.[1] He received an A.B. from the University of Minnesota (1917), a B.D. from McCormick Theological Seminary (1923), an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. from New York University (1949).

Professional Life

He served as a chaplain in the 140th Infantry during World War I. After pastorates in a Presbyterian church in Milwaukee (1919–1922) and a Reformed church in Brooklyn (1922–26), Buswell became president of Wheaton College from 1926 to 1940. He then served as president of the National Bible Institute of New York City, and its successor, Shelton College, in Ringwood, New Jersey from 1941 to 1955. And finally, in 1956, he became dean of Covenant College (1956–1964) and Covenant Theological Seminary (1956–1970) in St. Louis, Missouri. The libraries at both Wheaton College and Covenant Theological Seminary bear his name.

Tenure as President of Wheaton College

In January 1926, the young Rev. Buswell was on the campus of Wheaton College to deliver a week's worth of chapel sermons. Within weeks, college trustees invited Buswell to become Wheaton's third president (and first ever not named Blanchard). He was the youngest college president at 31 years old. Over the next 14 years, Buswell oversaw a significant period of growth in both numbers and academic rigor. He guided the college through the process of accreditation, bolstered its curriculum (especially in the sciences), increased the percentage of full-time faculty with Ph.D.'s from 24% to 49%, and saw the enrollment grow from 400 to 1,100.[2] However, Buswell's staunch Calvinism, fundamentalist separatism, and his reportedly difficult temperament made his tenure at Wheaton an uneasy one. After years of contentious relations on campus, the Wheaton board of trustees fired Buswell.[3]

Doctrinal Distinctives

Although not a dispensationalist, he was a premillennialist who believed in what pre-tribulationists call a "mid-tribulation rapture." (Actually, he believed that the Bible term tribulation only applies to the 2nd half of Daniel's 70th week; thus a so-called "mid-tribulationist" may well call himself a "pre-tribulationist.") He authored dozens of articles and eleven books, most notably, A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion, 2 vols. (1962–63), now out-of-print. Peculiar beliefs of Buswell include his theory that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ and that God's omnipresence does not mean that His existence extends throughout the universe—one may think of the universe as in God's lap.

Fundamentalist Churchman

Buswell was a staunch Calvinist who held to the Westminster Standards and Covenant theology. He was considered a fundamentalist, given his firm stand against the modernist accommodation within mainline Protestant denominations and his insistence on holding to the historic fundamentals (basics) of Christian doctrine.

In 1936, he was dismissed from the ministry of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. for the part that he played in the Independent Mission Board controversy, and became a figure in the founding of what would become the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The following year, he joined another fundamentalist Carl McIntire in forming the Bible Presbyterian Church. He would later participate in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (formerly the Bible Presbyterian Church, Columbus Synod) and the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod.

Works

Thesis

Books

Works by children of J. Oliver Buswell, Jr.

Buswell, James Oliver III [12 January 1922 - 8 August 2011]

References

  1. ↑ Brown, Earl L. (2004). "Scholastic Legend and Legacy in the Bible Presbyterian Church, 1938-1956" (PDF). WRS Journal. 11 (1). Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  2. ↑ "Wheaton History A to Z". Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  3. ↑ George Marsden, Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 1987), 45.

External links

Academic offices
Preceded by
Charles A. Blanchard		 President of Wheaton College
1926–1940 		Succeeded by
V. Raymond Edman
Preceded by
Don Odell Shelton		 President of Shelton College
1941–1955 		Succeeded by
John W. Murray
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