page_title: Arthur Cushman McGiffert
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Arthur Cushman McGiffert / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Arthur McGiffert in The Broad Ax on May 14, 1900
context_page_description: Arthur Cushman McGiffert, American theologian, was born in Sauquoit, New York, the son of a Presbyterian clergyman of Scots-Irish descent.
context_section_description: His published work, except occasional critical studies in philosophy, dealt with church history and the history of dogma. His best known publication is a History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age (1897). This book, which sustains critical historical eminence to this day, by its independent criticism and departures from traditionalism, aroused the opposition of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church; though the charges brought against McGiffert were dismissed by the Presbytery of New York, to which they had been referred, a trial for heresy seemed inevitable, and McGiffert, in 1900, retired from the Presbyterian ministry and retained his credentialed status by eager  recognition from a Congregational Church. Likewise he retained his distinguished position at Union Theological Seminary.
  A History of Christian Thought constituted a two volume work (1932, 1933) which established an American standard in theological studies and is still cited regularly by scholars. Among his other publications are: A Dialogue between a Christian and a Jew (1888); a translation (with introduction and notes) of Eusebius's Church History (1890; part of Philip Schaff's Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series); and The Apostle's Creed (1902), in which he attempted to prove that the old Roman creed was formulated as a protest against the dualism of Marcion and his denial of the reality of Jesus's life on earth.
caption: Arthur McGiffert in The Broad Ax on May 14, 1900
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