The education of Phillips Brooks
By: John F. Woolverton.
Series: Studies in Anglican history
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Urbana
Language: eng
Number of pages: 153
Subjects: Brooks, Phillips, 1835-1893.; Episcopal Church -- Massachusetts -- Bishops -- Education -- History -- 19th century.; Anglican Communion -- Massachusetts -- Bishops -- Education -- History -- 19th century.; Massachusetts -- Church history -- 19th century.
Other titles: Phillips Brooks
Description: The Education of Phillips Brooks probes the formative years of one of the best-known figures of Victorian America's "Gilded Age." Rigorously researched, bringing as yet untapped archival material into play, John F. Woolverton's book is an extremely readable and fascinating look at a gifted, persuasive clergyman and public figure.

The sermon Brooks delivered at his Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia while Abraham Lincoln's body lay in state overnight in Independence Hall was published, making him nationally famous overnight. He also is known for penning the lyrics to "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

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Although Brooks was not a major theologian, he was nurtured in an atmosphere of serious religious thought. In the crisis era of pre-Civil War America, he sought a religious and cultural ideal in the "perfect manhood" of Jesus Christ and consequently "won a name" for himself, as his slightly envious cousin, Henry Adams, once remarked.

Woolverton places Brooks in his cultural context and shows how this religious leader was shaped psychologically and by his times and how those factors helped him forge a spiritual ideal for a troubled nation.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [115]-148) and index.