2 December
1831 A.D. Birth of Francis
Nathan Peloubet—Congregationalist Minister & Author of Peloubet’s Notes
Graves, Dan. “Peloubet of
the Famous Notes.” Christianity.com. Jun
2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/peloubet-of-the-famous-notes-11630411.html.
Accessed 2 Dec 2014.
This comment was typical of
Francis Nathan Peloubet. The mission
field lost a good worker but the Sunday school movement gained a masterful
champion when Peloubet decided to become a Congregational minister in the
United States rather than a worker in foreign lands. Born on this day, December
2, 1831 in New York City, Peloubet was reared in New Jersey. He graduated from
William's College, Massachusetts, taught for a year, and then took his bachelor
of divinity degree from Bangor Theological Seminary, Maine. At that time he was
contemplating service in India. In fact, he even studied the Tamil language for
several months.
Having changed his mind and
decided to pastor in the United States, he held pulpits over the span of 26
years taking time out only to serve with the Civil War Commission (which aided
soldiers on the battlefields). While serving at his first pastorate, he married
Mary Abby Thaxter whom he had known in Maine. They had five daughters.
Peloubet grew enthusiastic about
the potential of the Sunday school to educate a new generation of Christians.
Around 1872, he began to write quarterly Sunday school lessons. In 1875 this
resulted in his issuing the first of an annual series of Select Notes
on the International Sabbath School Lessons. These enjoyed a
circulation of over 150,000 among Protestants, influencing millions of teachers
and students. They were popularly known as Peloubet's Notes.
Altogether by his death in 1920,
he had issued 44 volumes of these Sunday school notes and numerous other books,
including a Sunday school hymnal and a revision of William Smith's Bible
Dictionary.
Bibliography:
1. "Peloubet, Francis Nathan." American National Biography. Oxford
University Press, 1999.
2. "Peloubet, Francis Nathan." Chicago: Encyclopedia Americana, 1957.
3. Peloubet, Francis Nathan. Select Notes on the International Sabbath School
Lessons 1875-1918.
4. Various short notices on the internet, including
http://famousamericans.net/francisnathanpelovbet/
Last updated June,
2007
No comments:
Post a Comment