Walter Russell Bowie was a priest, author, editor, educator, hymn writer, and lecturer in the Episcopal Church (United States)

Episcopal Church (United States)

The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...

.

Biography

Walter Russell Bowie was born in Richmond, Virginia. He received a B.A. (1904) and M.A. (1905) from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and an B.D. (1909) and D.D. (1919) from Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary, now known as Virginia Theological Seminary

Virginia Theological Seminary

Virginia Theological Seminary , formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, is the largest accredited Episcopal seminary in the United States. Founded in 1818, VTS is situated on an campus in Alexandria, Virginia, just a few miles from downtown Washington, DC. VTS...

. He was married to Jean Laverack on September 29, 1909.

Bowie was ordained as a priest in 1909, serving at three Episcopal churches and two theological seminaries. He served as a Red Cross chaplain at Base Hospital 45 in France during World War I. Bowie's advocacy for what was becoming known as the Social Gospel

Social Gospel

The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...

 was given expression in his support for the League of Nations

League of Nations

The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

, advocacy for US immigration reform, his opposition to the Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...

 and Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...

.

As a Harvard undergraduate Bowie was co-editor of The Harvard Crimson

The Harvard Crimson

The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...

, with Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

. While in Richmond he was editor of The Southern Churchman. He was a member of the editing team for Interpreter's Bible series

Interpreter's Bible series

The Interpreter's Bible series is a Biblical criticism series published by United Methodist Publishing beginning in the 1950s...

 and the Editorial Committee for Revised Standard Version

Revised Standard Version

The Revised Standard Version is an English translation of the Bible published in the mid-20th century. It traces its history to William Tyndale's New Testament translation of 1525. The RSV is an authorized revision of the American Standard Version of 1901...

 of the Bible.

Important Works

• The Story of the Bible ISBN 0-687-39754-5
• The Story of the Church
• The Story of Jesus for Young People
• Christ be with me;: Daily meditations and personal prayers
• Lift Up Your Hearts
• Learning to Live
• "Lord Christ when first you came to Earth" (hymn)
• Interpreter's Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes (editorial team with George Arthur Buttrick
  George Arthur Buttrick
  -Biography:George Arthur Buttrick was born in Seaham Harbour, England on March 23, 1892. He attended the Victoria University of Manchester and moved to the United States. He served as a pastor in Quincy, Illinois, Rutland, Vermont, Buffalo, New York, and New York City. He gave a lecture series at...
  
  , John Knox, Samuel Terrien, Nolan B. Harmon)
• "O holy city seen of John" (hymn)
• Revised Standard Version
  Revised Standard Version
  The Revised Standard Version is an English translation of the Bible published in the mid-20th century. It traces its history to William Tyndale's New Testament translation of 1525. The RSV is an authorized revision of the American Standard Version of 1901...
  
   of the Bible (member of editorial committee)

Ordained Ministry

• Emmanuel Church, Greenwood VA, 1909 - 1911
• St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Richmond, Virginia) 1911 - 1923
• Grace Church, New York
  Grace Church, New York
  Grace Church is a historic parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York, located at 800 and 804 Broadway at the corner of East 10th Street, where Broadway bends to the north, with Grace Church School and the church houses – which are now used by the school – behind it at 86-98...
  
  , NY, 1923 - 1939
• Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
  Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
  Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...
  
  , 1939 - 1950
• Virginia Theological Seminary
  Virginia Theological Seminary
  Virginia Theological Seminary , formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, is the largest accredited Episcopal seminary in the United States. Founded in 1818, VTS is situated on an campus in Alexandria, Virginia, just a few miles from downtown Washington, DC. VTS...
  
  , 1950 - 1955