George Arthur Buttrick | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 23, 1892 Seaham Harbour, England |
| Died | January 23, 1980[1] Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Education | Victoria University of Manchester |
| Occupation(s) | Christian pastor Christian author Academic lecturer |
George Arthur Buttrick (March 23, 1892 – January 23, 1980) was an English-born, American-based Christian preacher, author and lecturer.[2][3][4]
Buttrick was born in Seaham Harbour, England on March 23, 1892.[4] He attended the Victoria University of Manchester and later emigrated to the United States.[4]
Buttrick served as a pastor in Quincy, Illinois, Rutland, Vermont, Buffalo, New York, and in 1927 he succeeded Henry Sloane Coffin as minister of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City.[4]
In 1936, Buttrick officiated the marriage of Fred and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, the parents of Donald Trump.[5]
Buttrick gave a lecture series at Yale University. From 1955 to 1960 he was Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Preacher to the university at Harvard University.[4] He was then a guest professor at the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and went on to teach at Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.[4] He later taught at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.[4] He also taught classes on preaching at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.[citation needed]
Buttrick was also Commentary Editor for The Interpreter's Bible, a twelve volume set of the Holy Scriptures, in the King James and Revised Standard Versions with general articles and introduction, exegesis and exposition, first published by Abingdon-Cokesbury Press in 1952.
Buttrick died in 1980.[4] His son, David G. Buttrick (1927–2017), was a Presbyterian minister who later joined the United Church of Christ and became the Drucilla Moore Buffington Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School.[6]
Frederick Buechner has often cited Buttrick as a central influence on his career, including his decision to become himself a Presbyterian minister. Buttrick's influence was also cited by Eugene Peterson, who was raised Pentecostal but became an intern at Madison Avenue during Buttrick's ministry and was inspired by his preaching.[7] In fact, according to Peterson's biographer [[Winn Collier]], both Buechner and Peterson were sitting in the pews of Madison Avenue Presbyterian that same year, having their shared epiphanies under Buttrick's preaching.[7]
