Biographical Sketch
Bibliography (including link to full text of Pathways
to God)
Moses Bailey, "Curriculum Vitae, in Medias Res," in New Testament Sidelights: Essays in Honor of Alexander Converse Purdy, ed. Harvey K. McArthur, Hartford: The Hartford Seminary Foundation Press, 1960. Used by permission.
Alexander Converse Purdy, son of Ellison Reynolds Purdy and Amelia Frances (Converse) Purdy, was born May 6, 1890, in West Laurens, New York. There the father, Ellison Purdy, was pastor of the Friends (Quaker) Meeting. Succeeding pastorates brought the family to Portland, Maine, and then to Iowa, to Marshaltown and to Oskaloosa. In Portland Amelia Purdy died, leaving her son not yet of school age. Early school years and boyhood friendships continued in Portland. Later, upon moving to Iowa, his father married Harriett Wyman, formerly of Portland, who proved a wise and loving mother. It was in Oskaloosa that Alexander entered Penn College, graduating, in the spring of 1910, at the head of his class. In addition to high academic standing, he played football and baseball on the college teams and sang with the Glee Club. In the fall of 1910 he entered Hartford Theological Seminary in the class of 1913. That class is significant in the history of the seminary for the number of outstanding Christian leaders that have appeared among its members. Again Alexander Purdy stood at the front of his class, and was awarded the William Thompson Fellowship for graduate study, the highest honor granted by the Seminary Faculty.
During the three seminary years he served as minister at Moses Brown School, in Providence, Rhode Island. It is a Friends School for college preparation, at that time co-educational, though soon after it became limited to boys. The older schoolboys were very close to the age of their young minister; without doubt this made his ministry doubly effective, though surely it could not have been easy to stand before so lively a group on Sunday morning, persuading a captive audience to become willing hearers. The strength of his ministry may be partially measured by the fact that he was urged to continue the service, which he did with interruptions only when outside New England, over a period of some forty-five years.
On May 15, 1914, Alexander Purdy married Jeannette Hadley, daughter of Professor Stephen Hadley, of the Penn College Faculty, and Adaline Hadley. They went to Marburg, Germany, where he planned to pursue graduate studies as the William Thompson Fellow. The dramatic events of that summer brought them involuntarily back to the United States, however, where, after a period at the Harvard Divinity School, he completed his residence and earned his doctorate in philosophy at the Hartford Theological Seminary in 1916. The doctoral thesis on the Epistle to the Hebrews was recognized as superior. Called to the Department of Religion at Earlham College, he taught there until 1923, when he was invited to return to his seminary alma mater, where he has now for many years occupied the Hosmer Chair of New Testament Studies.
The breadth in promise of the early pattern, with lively interest in books, athletics, and teaching, with inspiring appeal to the uneasy minds of prep-school boys, has been more than fulfilled in the writing, teaching and peripheral activities of mature years. Growing out of his teaching, and, especially, his leadership in various church and Christian Association conferences, came in the early years a succession of inspirational and devotional books. His interest in the Epistle to the Hebrews continued strong in later studies, culminating in the substantial introduction and commentary on the book in the Interpreters' Bible. For a long time to come this work of mature scholarship will be consulted by all serious students of the subject. Numerous other books and many articles there have been; one book, in cooperation with Garth H. C. Macgregor, Jew and Greek: Tutors unto Christ, has had wide and continuing usage in seminary classes.
Probably those who know Professor Purdy most intimately think of him first
as a great teacher. The skill of the teacher is no ready-mix formula from the
schoolmen. A mingling of insight into the minds of others, both of the students
in the classroom and of the great men of history, to whom the students are being
introduced, together with thorough scholarly attainment, and willingness to
let the truth rest its case upon the evidence, is the making of the real teacher.
To such qualities experience brings perfection. For more than forty years Professor
Purdy has been teaching the New Testament, working for the most part with college
graduates who have serious professional interest in their study. The comments
of these, some in the light of many years of experience in the ministry, some
in the course of their seminary education, give a significant picture of his
classroom. Repeatedly students inquire exactly what Professor Purdy himself
believes about some debatable matter. Students in their youthfulness desire
a quick and quotable answer; their wiser teacher has given them access to the
available evidence, leaving them to discover whether any conclusion is possible.
Because of this scholarly caution, students from widely variant backgrounds
of belief and of skepticism have learned without frustration. Adequacy of materials
and carefulness in presentation of all the evidence upon each subject have been
matched by unusual insight into the mind of the student, his needs and his capacity.
Seldom if ever has the chronic complaint of youth, the complaint of unfairness,
been heard of Professor Purdy. He is eminently fair in judgment. Of these things,
students often speak. In more casual conversation, they frequently mention the
pleasant humor that comes into the lectures, not as if the fun were a bait to
tired students, but as being the normal human appreciation of ancient people
and events, and of modern students and their predicaments. Perhaps this explains
in part why Professor Purdy has no weary students.
Yet cautious scholarship, well ordered and touched with sympathy, is only one side of the picture. Professor Purdy's colleagues and students in their varied ways constantly report that his words invite to commitment. Somehow he has made it clear that neither incomplete evidence nor honest doubt prevent practical commitment to truth and its lifelong service. Of this students speak with a certain awe. This, perhaps more than anything else, stands out in the minds of alumni whose judgment has grown with experience.
Families need vacations. At Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, a beautiful resort area in the Pocono Mountains where a considerable proportion of the patrons are Friends, the Purdys have spent many summers.
There, as Director of the Foxhowe Association, he has arranged each season a series of lectures by persons who can present vital information and interpretation on a wide range of subjects. Then, also, Professor Purdy himself has presented courses of study for those interested; indeed many are interested. The quality of this intellectual life, focused in significant human concern, must be partly responsible for the unusual character of the community which year after year is drawn to spend their summer vacation at this place.
In 1944 the presidency of the Hartford Seminary Foundation, of which the Hartford Theological Seminary is one constituent school, became vacant, and an interim administration necessary in the period of search for the succeeding president. Professor Purdy was appointed by the Board of Trustees as Acting President. During his year of office every detail was meticulously cared for, the budget was balanced, and with quiet thoroughness each aspect of the institution's life was so ordered that when the new president arrived there was no residuum of problems to cast a shadow from the past. Some years later, in 1954, when the late Dean Tertius van Dyke retired from the seminary, becoming Dean Emeritus, Professor Purdy was invited by the President and Trustees to occupy that post, which he has done from that time to June, I960, when he became Dean Emeritus. Fortunately he has been able to continue much of his teaching during this period, though outside engagements have been somewhat curtailed. The Dean's office, like the country that has no history, is so efficiently administered that those outside remain unaware of the amount of detail that is continually involved.
Representing the Society of Friends, Dean Purdy has for a decade served actively in the World Council of Churches upon its Executive Committee. The Society that he represents is few in numbers, and its manner of thought is not always conventional. To speak for it in the spirit of full cooperation with all the great aims of Christendom, yet without compromising the sometimes eccentric emphases of the Quakers requires both quiet tact and willingness to express occasional independence. The years that Dean Purdy has given to the World Council of Churches have strengthened the unity in diversity which marks Christian history in its most effective expression.
May it be many years before it is possible finally to evaluate Dean Purdy's service to scholarship and to faith! Nevertheless a report of progress is always in order. The books already written, especially the commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, will continue to be the solid basis of further scholarship in their field. Service on boards and committees, both of the Society of Friends, of which he is a life-long member, and of other bodies, is a routine task whose accomplishment will in his case have lasting value. Personal friendships, some life-long, some of more ephemeral association, leave permanent marks of wisdom, courage and inspiration. Above all, it is as teacher that Dean Purdy has indelibly influenced many hundreds of men and women. Among them a distinguished inner circle, some of them contributing to this volume, are themselves now scholars in the field of New Testament studies. Many others, though modestly disclaiming technical scholarship, have caught from their teacher the rigorous exactness of the search for truth. For the word of a great teacher is like a flame, which kindles a fire far beyond its own reach.
"A Bibliography of the Writings of Alexander C. Purdy," in New Testament Sidelights: Essays in Honor of Alexander Converse Purdy, ed. Harvey K. McArthur, Hartford: The Hartford Seminary Foundation Press, 1960. Used by permission.
The Way of Christ, New York, Womans Press, 1918
Pathways to God, New York, Womans Press, 1922 (307KB PDF)
Jesus' Way With People, New York, Womans Press, 1926
Jew and Greek: Tutors unto Christ (with G. H. C. Macgregor), London, Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 1936; New York, Scribner, 1936; Edinburgh, The Saint Andrew Press, 1959
Jesus as His Followers Knew Him, Boston, Pilgrim Press, 1948
The Gospel and Letters of John, Philadelphia, Friends Central Bureau, 1946
"The Purpose of the Epistle to the Hebrews" in The Expositor, London, February, 1920
"Epistle to the Hebrews" in New Standard Bible Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls Company, New York & London, (2nd ed.) 1925, (3rd ed.) 1936
"God's Answer" in The Church Is Man's Haven of Comfort
"Das Neue Testament in der amerikanischen Theologie" in Theologische Rundschau, December, 1931
"The Purpose of the Epistle to the Hebrews" in Amicitiae Corolla, 1933
"The Sermon on the Mount as the Way of the Cross" in The Student World, No. 3, 1937
"The Bible in Religious Education" in Child Guidance in Christian Living, 1944
"The Plumb Line" in Strength for Today, 1945
"Food and Hunger in the Divine Economy" in Sermons for Today, 1946
"A Kingdom that Cannot be Shaken" in Convocations for Worship, Purdue University, 1946
"Biblical Theology and the Sermon on the Mount" in Religion in Life, Autumn, 1946
"The Good Samaritan" in The Friend, 1946
"The Individual and Individualism in the New Testament" in The Crozer Quarterly, July, 1947
"Elbert C. Lane, Colleague and Friend" in The Hartford Seminary Foundation Bulletin, January, 1951
"The Epistle to the Hebrews, Introduction and Exegesis" in The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. XI, 1955
"Many Members—One Body" in Friends Journal, September 8, 1956
"The Life of the Local Meeting and the Ecumenical Movement" in The American Friend, 1957
"The Hebrews" in Encyclopedia Americana, 1959 edition
"The Epistle to Hebrews" in Encyclopedia Americana, 1959 edition
"Jesus as Teacher" to be published in Church School Worker, April, 1960
"Paul, the Apostle" to be published in The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible
"The Nativity Records" and "New Testament Background Study of the Easter Stories" in Teaching the New Testament, by Edna M. Baxter, The Christian Education Press, 1960
"Memorial Address for A. R. Merriam" 1928
"Concerning the Education of Prophets: Inaugural Address" (as Professor of Practical Theology in the Hartford Theological Seminary), 1925
"Spirit in the New Testament and Today" John Bowne Lecture, 1934
"The Meeting for Worship: Its Meaning and Function" 1937
"Quakerism: a Community of Witnesses" 1944
"The Christmas Message" Hartford Civitan Club, 1945
"Jerusalem Speaks to Athens" Foxhowe Association, 1947
"Sources of Inward Peace" Broadcast, Mutual Network, 1950
"An Adequate Leadership for Friends Meetings" First Ward Lecture, Guilford College, 1950
"The Meeting for Worship: the Center of Religious life" n.d.
"Foundations that Cannot be Shaken" n.d.
"Quakerism at the Crossroads" High Point, North Carolina, 1957
in The Friends Intelligencer
"A Few Words to Pacifists" Vol. 80, No. 45, 1923, p. 756
"The Spirit of the Messenger" Vol. 81, No. 6, 1924, p. 92
"Quakerism Facing Life" Vol. 82, No. 29, 1925, p. 566
"Character Building" Vol. 82, No. 15, 1925, p. 285
"The Method of Jesus and a Present Day Attempt to Apply It" Vol. 83, No. 19, 1925, p. 363
"The Hebrew Idea of God" Vol. 84, No. 28, 1927, p. 553
"The Meaning of Worship for Today" Vol. 85, No. 45, 1928, p. 887
"Foxhowe at Buck Hill Falls" Vol. 87, No. 37, 1930, p. 734
"Why Pendle Hill?" Vol. 87, No. 20, 1930, p. 389
"A Friendly Look at the Balkans" Vol. 88, No. 12, 1931, p. 248
"The Hunger of Humanity" Vol. 89, No. 32, 1932, p. 629
"A Call for an Intelligent Faith" Vol. 89, No. 20, 1932, p. 389
"The Man or the Poet—or Both?" Vol. 92, No. 36, 1935, p. 565
"Organism or Mechanism" Vol. 93, No. 50, 1936, p. 831
"The Ministry of Reconciliation" Vol. 93, No. 44, 1936, p. 723
"The Sources of Courage" Vol. 93, No. 19,1936, p. 299
"The Old Testament View of History" Vol. 94, No. 25, 1937, p. 415
"To All the Saints" Vol. 94, No. 3, 1937, p. 355
"The Distinctive Contribution of Religion to Human Conflict" Vol. 95, No. 29, 1938, p. 474
"Jesus as Revealer of God" Vol. 95, No. 26, 1938, p. 426
"The Social Implications of Jesus' Teaching" Vol. 95, No. 24, 1938, p. 393
"Jesus as Teacher of Righteousness" Vol. 95, No. 23, 1938, p. 375
"The Meeting for Worship the Center of Religious Life" Vol. 96, No. 5, 1939, p. 67
"Our Strength and the World's Need" Vol. 97, No. 43, 1940, p. 687
"The Plain Man and Religion" Vol. 97, No. 3, 1940, p. 35
"Recurrent Human Situations" Vol. 99, No. 52, 1942, p. 835
"Friends' Principles at Work in the Lives of Men" Vol. 99, No. 16, 1942, p. 247
"Some Thoughts on the Easter Message" Vol. 99, No. 14, 1942, p. 211
"Food and Hunger" Vol. 100, No. 29, 1943, p. 467
"Vocal Prayer and the Meeting for Worship" Vol. 100, No. 18,1943, p. 291
"Basic Training for the Future" Vol. 102, No. 25, 1945, p. 395
"The Mysticism of John" Vol. 103, No. 36, 1946, p. 523
"The Christmas Message" Vol. 104, No. 51, 1947, p. 687
"Sources of Inward Peace" Vol. 107, No. 36, 1950, p. 587
"Christianity and the Quaker Way" Vol. 109, No. 8, 1952, p. 100
in The American Friend
"Is Christianity a Failure?" Vol. 6, No. 24, 1918, p. 479
"Teach Us to Pray" Vol. 6, No. 41, 1918, p. 839
"Children of God" Vol. 10, No. 4, 1922, p. 68
"A Few Words to Pacifists" Vol. 11, No. 41, 1923, p. 796
"Concerning the Education of the Prophets" Vol. 13, No. 38, 1925, p. 648
"Concerning the Education of the Prophets" (continued) Vol. 13, No. 39, 1925, p. 664
"The Gospel and the Modern Man" Vol. 15, No. 35, 1927, p. 584
"My Conception of a Quaker Pastor" Vol. 15, No. 28, 1927, p. 464
"On Raising Sermons" Vol. 16, No. 11, 1928, p. 179
"Is the C.O. the Ultimate Solution of the War Problem? Yes" (Messenger of Peace Supplement Vol. 53, No. 5) in Vol. 16, No. 20, 1928, p. 348
"Should Marines be in Nicaragua?" (Symposium)(Messenger of Peace Supplement Vol. 53, No. 3) in Vol. 16, No. 11, 1928, p. 188
"Meeting Secretaries at Buck Hill Falls" Vol. 17, No. 33, 1929, p. 613
"What and How to Read" Vol. 19, No. 33, 1930, p. 647
"A Friendly Look at the Balkans" Vol. 19, No. 11, 1931, p. 203
"A Clarion Call for An Intelligent Faith" Vol. 20, No. 20, 1932, p. 360
"An Adequate Faith for Today" Vol. 20, No. 32, 1932, p. 576
"Our Economic Apocalypse" Vol. 21, No. 1,1933, p. 4
"The Ethical Teaching of Jesus" "I. The Kingdom of God and The New Humanity" Vol. 21, No. 7, 1933, p. 80
"The Ethical Teaching of Jesus" "II. Purity" Vol. 21, No. 8, 1933, p. 92
"The Ethical Teaching of Jesus" "III. Love" Vol. 21, No. 9,1933, p. 111
"Spiritual Message of the Society of Friends" Vol. 24, No. 24, 1936, p. 491
"Every Man for Himself" Vol. 29, No. 13, 1941, p. 256
"Vocal Prayer and the Meeting for Worship" Vol. 31, No. 11, 1943, p. 212
"The Recovery of Moral Purpose" Vol. 32, No. 1, 1944, p. 9
"Religion of Veracity and Spiritual Inwardness" Vol. 33, No. 22, 1945, p. 465
"Religion of Veracity and Spiritual Inwardness" (continued) Vol. 33, No. 23, 1945, p. 475
"Romance and Dynamic of Christ" Vol. 34, No. 23, 1946, p. 446
"Basis of Unity for Friends I" Vol. 37, No. 4, 1949, p. 51
"Basis of Unity for Friends II" Vol. 37, No. 5, 1949, p. 71
"Friends and the Christian Tradition" Vol. 37, No. 8, 1949, p. 116
"The Miracle of Forgiveness" Vol. 38, No. 2, 1950, p. 21
"Friends in World Fellowship" Vol. 39, No. 2, 1951, p. 21
"The Cross in Perspective" Vol. 40, No. 7, 1952, p. 108
"Friends and the Ecumenical Movement" Vol. 48, No. 1, I960, p. 4
C. H. Dodd, The Johannine Epistles (Moffatt New Testament Commentary) in The Crozer Quarterly, January, 1948
John W. Bowman, The Religion of Maturity in Journal of Biblical Literature, March, 1949
Joseph E. Mayer, Die Acht Seligpreisungen Jesu in Religious Education, May-June, 1950
Sidney Lucas, The Quaker Story in Bulletin of the Friends Historical Association, 1949
Luther A. Weigle, The English New Testament in Friends Intelligencer, October 22, 1949
Joshua Bloch, On the Apocalyptic in Judaism in Journal of Biblical Literature, March, 1954
C. H. Dodd, Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel in Religion in Life, Summer, 1954
John W. Bowman, The Religion of Maturity
D. W. Beck, Through the Gospels to Jesus; Daniel-Rops, ]esus and His Times; W. E. and M. B. Rollins, Jesus and his Ministry; Vincent Taylor, The Life and Ministry of Jesus in Religion in Life, Spring, 1955
D. Elton Trueblood, Philosophy of Religion in The American Friend, August 8, 1957
Horace M. Lippincott, ed., Through a Quaker Archway in The Alumni Bulletin of Bangor Theological Seminary, Spring 1960