Horace Bushnell.jpg

Horace Bushnell

Yale University. Ministry. Journalist.

In his repute and influence as an author he was unrivalled among the graduates of the college of his generation, Yale Obituary.[5]

Son of Ensign and Dotha (Bishop) Bushnell, was born in Litchfield, Conn., April 14,1802.[5]

His principal publications were: in 1847,”Christian Nurture”; in 1849, “God in Christ”; in 1851, “Christ in Theology”; in 1858, “Sermons for the New Life,” and “Nature and the Supernatural” ; in 1864, “Work and Play,” and “Christ and His Salvation”, in 1865, “The Vicarious Sacrifice”; in 1868, “Moral Uses of Dark Things”; in 1869, “Woman Suffrage”; in 1872, “Sermons on Living Subjects”; and in 1874, “Forgiveness and Law.”[5]

“In the remoter and more primitive ages of the world, sometimes called mythologic, it will be observed that mankind, whether by reason of some native instinct, as yet uncorrupted, or some native weakness yet uneradicated, are abundantly disposed to believe in things supernatural. Thus it was in the extinct religions of Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, and Rome; and thus also it still is in the existing mythologic religions of the East. Under this apparently primitive habit of mind, we find men readiest, in fact, to believe in that which exceeds the terms of mere nature; in deities and apparitions of deities, that fill the heavens and earth with their sublime turmoil; in fates and furies ; in nymphs and graces ; in signs and oracles, and incantations ; in “gorgons and chimeras dire.” Their gods are charioteering in the sun, presiding in the mountain tops, rising out of the foam of the sea, breathing inspirations in the gas that issues from caves and rocky fissures, loosing their rage in the storms, plotting against each other in the intrigues of courts, mixing in battles to give success to their own people or defeat the people of some rival deity. All departments and regions of the world are full of their miraculous activity. Above ground, they are managing the thunders ; distilling in showers, or settling in dews ; ripening or blasting the harvests ; breathing health, or poisoning the air with pestilential infections. In the ground they stir up volcanic fires, and wrestle in earthquakes that shake down cities. In the deep world underground, they receive the ghosts of departed men, and preside in Tartarean majesty over the realms of the shades.”[5, Chapter 1]

1883 - Ordained to ministry Congregational Church.[19]

1874 - Published - Forgiveness and Law.[5]

1871 - Honorary Doctor of Laws, Yale University.[5]

1869 - Women’s Suffrage: The Reform Against Nature.[5]

1868 - Published - Science and Religion Essay.[5]

1866 - Published - The Vicarious Sacrifice.[5]

1860 - Published - The Census and Slavery.[5]

1860 - Published - Sermons for The New Life.[5]

1858 - Published - Christ in Theology.[5]

1858 - Published - Nature and the Supernatural.[5]

that God has, in fact, erected another system, that of spiritual being and government, for which nature exists; a system not under the law of cause and effect, but ruled and marshalled under other kinds of laws, and able continually to act upon, or vary the action of the processes of nature. If accordingly, we speak of system, this spiritual realm or department is much more properly called a system than the natural, because it is closer to God, higher in its consequence, and contains in itself the ends, or final causes, for which the other exists and to which the other is made to be subservient. There is, however, a constant action and reaction between the two, and strictly speaking, they are both together, taken as one, the true system of God; for a system, in the most proper and philosophic sense of the word, is a complete and absolute whole, which can not be taken as a part or fraction of any thing.[11,p38]

1852 - Honary Doctor of Divinity, Harvard.[19][5]

1849 - Published - God in Christ.[5] Published in the year of his mystical experience that illumined the gospel for him, Bushnell challenged the traditional, substitutionary view of the atonement (i.e., that the death of Christ was the substitute for man’s punishment for sin) and considered problems of language, emphasizing the social, symbolic, and evocative nature of language as related to religious faith and the mysteries of God.[6]

1847 - Published - Christian Nature. Was a thorough critique of the prevailing emphasis placed on the conversion experience by revivalists.[5]

1845 to 1846 - Travelled in Europe.[19]

1842 - Honorary Doctor of Divinity, Wesleyan University.[19][5]

1839 - Published - Discourse on the Slavery Question.[6]

1833 to 1859 - Pastor North Church, Hartford, Connecticut.[19]

While then looking forward to entrance on the legal profession, his religious life received a special impulse, the result of which was that he devoted himself to the study of theology in the Divinity School of this college, and after two years of preparation was ordained over the North Church in Hartford, Conn., May 22, 183a.[5]

1829 to 1831 - Tutor, Yale College.[5]

He then returned to New Haven as a law student, but was diverted from the preparation for his profession by the offer of a tutorship in college, in which office he remained for two years, 1829-31.[5]

February, 1828, accepted a position in the editorial office of the N. Y “Journal of Commerce,”which he held until the close of the year.[5]

On graduating, he went to Norwich, Conn., as principal of the Chelsea Grammar School.[5]

Died in Hartford, Feb. 17, 1876, in the 74th year of his age.

With this church he remained, until the loss of health obliged him to resign, Nov. 22, 1859 He was then suffering from consumption, which seemed to threaten a speedy decline; but the strength of his constitution so far prevailed that he was spared for nearly twenty years more of unofficial residence among his former people.[5]

He married Miss Mary Apthorp, of New Haven, who survives him with three of their live children.[5]

At the time of his admission to college, his residence was in the parish of New Preston, in Washington, Conn.[5]

Notes: (require further investigation)

William Herbert Corbin (S&B 1889) - 1928 to 1945 - Trustee Horace Bushnell Memorial

Charles Hopkins Clark (S&B 1871) - 15 Dec 1873 - Married (1), in Hartford, Ellen, daughter of Ehsha King and Matilda (Colt) Root Children: Horace Bushnell Clark ‘98, and Mary Hopkins (Mrs Henry K W Welch).Mrs. Clark died February 28, 1895.

William Benedict Bushnell (S&B 1865) - Former Vice President of the Arctic Ice Company.

Samuel Clarke Bushnell (S&B 1874) - Member of Connecticut Legislature; his services as financial sponsor of the “Monitor” and his responsibility for its adoption by the Union through his influence with President Lincoln are marked by the bronzetablet on the Ericson-Bushnell monument at Chapel Streetand Derby Avenue, New Haven.

[1] - Wiki - Horace Bushnell

[2] - Cambridge.org - Horace Bushnell among the Metaphysicians

[3] - Theodora.com - HORACE BUSHNELL

[4] - Reference to Bushnell Family and City Name

[5] - Yale Obituary - 1875/76 - Page 14

[6] - Britannica.com - Horace Bushnell

[7] - Find a Grave - Horace Bushnell

[8] - Book - Christian Nuture (1847) by Horace Bushnell

[9] - Book - God in Christ (1849) by Horace Bushnell

[10] - Book - Christ in Theology (1851) by Horace Bushnell

[11] - Book - Nature and the supernatural (1870) by Horace Bushnell (1802-1876)

[12] - Book - Work and Play (1864) by Horace Bushnell