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Phillips Brooks Biography

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BROOKS, Phillips (1835-93). A Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal church. He was born in Boston, Mass., Dec. 13, 1835; graduated at Harvard in 1855, and at the P. E. Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Va., in 1859. He became rector of the Church of the Advent, Philadelphia, in 1859; of Holy Trinity there in 1862; removed to Boston as rector of Trinity in 1869; and was elected Bishop of Massachusetts in 1891. He published Lectures on Preaching (Yale lectures on the Lyman Beecher foundation, 1877), The Influence of Jesus (Bohlen lectures, Philadelphia Divinity School, 1879), and several volumes of sermons. He also wrote the favorite Christmas hymn, "O Little Town of Bethlehem." He was celebrated as a preacher and as a vigorous and independent thinker. His freedom from the ordinary sectarian trammels, his liberal views of doctrine, with his profound convictions as to vital Christian truths, and his deeply spiritual yet intensely practical preaching, gave him great influence with all denominations. Consult his biography by A. V. G. Allen (New York, 1901), Howe, Phillips Brooks (Boston, 1899), and W. Lawrence, Phillips Brooks: A Study (Boston, 1903).