King, Henry Churchill

King, Henry Churchill

(1858–1934) theologian, educator; born in Hillsdale, Mich. He graduated from Oberlin College (1879) and then Oberlin Theological Seminary (1882). He studied in Berlin (1983–94) and was influenced by German philosophy. He taught theology at Oberlin and was president of the college (1903–27). As president, he worked for the development of the "whole man" and Oberlin came to emphasize music, the fine arts, morals, and religion. At the end of World War I he coauthored (with Charles R. Crane) the Crane-King report on what to do with the various lands belonging to the defeated Turkish Ottoman Empire; although ignored at the time, their warning that Palestine was largely an Arab land would in later years be drawn into the controversy over the establishment of Israel on this territory. His health failed soon after that and he retired in an enfeebled condition.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.