Shirley Jackson Case

Shirley Jackson Case (1872–1947) was an historian of early Christianity, and a liberal theologian. He served as dean of the Divinity School at the University of Chicago.

The Reverend Shirley Jackson Case
Born	(1872-09-28)September 28, 1872 Hatfield Point, New Brunswick, Canada
Died	December 5, 1947(1947-12-05) (aged 75) Lakeland, Florida, US
Nationality	Canadian
Ecclesiastical career
Religion	Christianity (Baptist)
Academic background
Alma mater	Acadia University Yale University
Influences	Adolf von Harnack^[1] Albrecht Ritschl^[1]
Academic work
Discipline	History theology
Sub-discipline	Ecclesiastical history
School or tradition	Theological liberalism
Institutions	University of Chicago Florida Southern College

Biography

Case was born on September 28, 1872, in Hatfield Point, New Brunswick. He received a BA (1893) and MA (1896) in mathematics from Acadia University.^[2] He taught mathematics at the New Hampton Library Institute.^[2] In 1904, he obtained a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School and a Doctor of Philosophy degree^[2] in 1908.^{[citation needed]} He was professor of New Testament literature and interpretation at University of Chicago Divinity School until 1925.^[2] In 1924, he served as president of the American Society of Church History^[3] and, in 1926, served as president of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis.^[4]

Case is known for his research into the person of Jesus, who he argued was a historical person.^[5]

He edited The American Journal of Theology and its successor The Journal of Religion. Case considered himself a historian of Christianity. He was drawn to liberal theology.^[6] He was convinced that Jesus was an historical person and criticized the arguments of Christ myth theory proponents.^[7]

He died on December 5, 1947, in Lakeland, Florida.^[2]

Selected publications

Books

• The Historicity of Jesus: A Criticism of the Contention that Jesus Never Lived, a Statement of the Evidence for His Existence, an Estimate of His Relation to Christianity (1912)
• The Evolution of Early Christianity: A Genetic Study of First-Century Christianity in Relation to Its Religious Environment (1914)
• The Revelation of John: A Historical Interpretation (1919)
• The Social Origins of Christianity (1923)
• Jesus: A New Biography (1927)
• Experience With the Supernatural in Early Christian Times (1929)
• The Social Triumph of the Ancient Church (1933)
• Makers of Christianity: From Jesus to Charlemagne (1934)
• Christianity in a Changing World (1941)
• The Christian Philosophy of History (1943)
• The Origins of Christian Supernaturalism (1946)

Papers

• Case, Shirley Jackson. (1910). Is Jesus a Historical Character? Evidence for an Affirmative Opinion. The American Journal of Theology 15 (2): 205–227.
• Case, Shirley Jackson. (1910). The Missionary Idea in Early Christianity. The Biblical World 36 (2): 113–125.
• Case, Shirley Jackson. (1911). Jesus' Historicity: A Statement of the Problem. The American Journal of Theology 15 (2): 265–268.
• Case, Shirley Jackson. (1911). Recent Books on the Question of Jesus' Existence. The American Journal of Theology 15 (4): 626–628.
• Case, Shirley Jackson. (1911). The Historicity of Jesus an Estimate of the Negative Argument. The American Journal of Theology 15 (1): 20–42.
• Case, Shirley Jackson. (1913). The Problem of Christianity's Essence. The American Journal of Theology 17 (4): 541–562.
• Case, Shirley Jackson. (1920). Reviewed Work: The Jesus Problem. A Restatement of the Myth Theory by J. M. Robertson. The Harvard Theological Review 13 (3): 295–296.
• Case, Shirley Jackson. (1921). The Historical Study of Religion. The Journal of Religion 1 (1): 1–17.

See also

• Free Will Baptist

References

Footnotes

1. Jesse 2005, p. 450.
2. Jesse 2005, p. 449.
3. Kumar 2004, p. 50.
4. Attridge & VanderKam 2006, p. 345.
5. Case, Shirley Jackson (1912). The Historicity of Jesus: A Criticism of the Contention that Jesus Never Lived, a Statement of the Evidence for His Existence, an Estimate of His Relation to Christianity. The University of Chicago Press.
6. Jesse 2005.
7. Bowen 1912; Moffatt 1912; Weaver 1999, pp. 127–133.

Bibliography

• Attridge, Harold W.; VanderKam, James C., eds. (2006). Presidential Voices: The Society of Biblical Literature in the Twentieth Century. SBL Biblical Scholarship in North America. Vol. 22. Atlanta, Georgia: Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 978-1-58983-259-6.
• Bowen, Clayton R. (1912). "Review of The Historicity of Jesus and the Gospels, by Shirley Jackson Case". The American Journal of Theology. 16 (3): 459–462. doi:10.1086/479101. ISSN 1550-3283. JSTOR 3154949.
• Kumar, Lisa, ed. (2004). "Case, Shirley Jackson, 1872–1947". Contemporary Authors. Vol. 225. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson Gale. pp. 50–51. ISSN 0010-7468.
• Jesse, Jennifer G. (2005). "Case Shirley Jackson (1872–1947)". In Shook, John R. (ed.). Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers. Vol. 1. Thoemmes. pp. 449–452. ISBN 978-1-84371-037-0.
• Moffatt, James (1912). "Review of The Historicity of Jesus, by Shirley Jackson Case". The Biblical World. 40 (3): 210–211. doi:10.1086/474640. ISSN 0190-3578. JSTOR 3141435.
• Weaver, Walter P. (1999). The Historical Jesus in the Twentieth Century, 1900–1950. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International. ISBN 978-1-56338-280-2.

Further reading

• Hynes, William J. (1981). Shirley Jackson Case and the Chicago School: The Socio-Historical Method. Scholars Press.
• Jennings, Louis B. (1949). The Bibliography and Biography of Shirley Jackson Case. University of Chicago Press.

External links

• The Historicity of Jesus

Professional and academic associations
Preceded by Julius A. Bewer	President of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis 1926	Succeeded by Irving F. Wood