Nick: New page: '''William Craig Brownlee''' (1784 – February 10, 1860) was an American clergyman, professor of languages and author. He was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland ...

2020-04-17T02:18:08Z

New page: '''William Craig Brownlee''' (1784 – February 10, 1860) was an American clergyman, professor of languages and author. He was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland ...

New page

'''William Craig Brownlee''' (1784 – February 10, 1860) was an [[United States|American]] [[clergy]]man, professor of languages and author. He was born in [[Lanarkshire]], [[Scotland]] and was the fourth son of the Laird of Torfoot. President [[William McKinley]] was a distant cousin.

Brownlee founded the [[Philoclean Society]] at [[Rutgers University|Rutgers]] in 1825. Basking Ridge, NJ named a street, Brownlee Place, in his honor.[http://www.brpc.org/publications/BRPCHistory1717-1989.pdf]

==Career==
Brownlee studied at the [[University of Glasgow]], receiving a Master's degree with honors. He was licensed as a minister by the Church of Scotland in 1808, before coming to the United States. [http://www.brpc.org/publications/BRPCHistory1717-1989.pdf]

Brownlee held several Associate Presbyterian pastorates in [[Pennsylvania]] and [[New Jersey]] and was master of a classical academy in Basking Ridge, NJ.[http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/scua/university_archives/ru_historical_sketch.shtml] He received an honorary degree from [[Princeton Theological Seminary]] in 1820,[http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/eadGetDoc.xq?id=/ead/mss/C0277.EAD.xml] then the [[University of Glasgow]] gave him an honorary Doctor of Divinity in 1824 for his critical work on the Quakers.[http://www.brpc.org/publications/BRPCHistory1717-1989.pdf] Brownlee's parishioners described him as an independent thinker and engaging speaker who often criticized the Roman Catholic Church, Universalism and other groups.[http://www.brpc.org/publications/BRPCHistory1717-1989.pdf]

He became [[professor]] of [[Latin]] and [[Greek language|Greek]] at [[Rutgers University|Rutgers College]] in 1825. The next year, Brownlee was installed as a minister at the Collegiate Reformed Dutch church in [[New York City]]. He served on a rotating basis among several Dutch Reformed Churches in Manhattan until 1860.[http://www.collegiatechurch.org/ministers.html]

In 1836, he helped found a group called The American Society to Promote the Principles of the Protestant Reformation. It was an anti-Catholic society, which was eventually absorbed into the American and Foreign Christian Union. It exists today as an ecumenical, mainline Protestant organization.[http://www.afcubridge.org/History%202.htm]

Brownlee's career was cut short by a paralyzing stroke in 1843, from which he never fully recovered, even though his mind remained clear. He and his wife had nine children.[http://www.brpc.org/publications/BRPCHistory1717-1989.pdf]

==Works==
Brownlee wrote the 1833 novel ''The Whigs of Scotland,'' a two-volume historical romance about [[The Killing Time]]. In the book's introduction, he argued that the Scottish resistance lit the fires of liberty against "the gigantic efforts of a civil and religious fanaticism" from England. Walter Scott, whose portrayal of the [[Covenanters]] Brownleee called an injustice, was the epic's inspiration.

Brownlee also edited the ''Dutch Church Magazine'' (four volumes), founded ''The Protestant Vindicator'' newspaper in 1834, and published several books, including:
* ''Inquiry into the Principles of the Quakers'' (1824)
* ''The Whigs of Scotland: or, the Last of the Stuarts. An Historical Romance of the Scottish Persecution'' (1833)
* ''Letters in the Roman Catholic Controversy'' (1834)
* ''The Christian Youth's Book'' (1844)
* ''Treatise on Popery'' (1847)
* ''Lights and Shadows of Christian Life'' (1847)
* ''Narrative of the Battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge'' (1850)
* ''Saint Patrick and the Western Apostolic Churches'' (1857)
* ''Secret instructions of the Jesuits'' (1857)
* ''Popery: An enemy to civil and religious liberty, and dangerous to our republic'' (1836)

==References==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brownlee, William Craig}}
[[Category:Religious leaders from New York City]]
[[Category:Scottish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:American Presbyterian ministers]]
[[Category:19th-century Presbyterian ministers]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:Rutgers University faculty]]
[[Category:1784 births]]
[[Category:1860 deaths]]

{{Donate}}

William Craig Brownlee - Revision history

Nick: New page: '''William Craig Brownlee''' (1784 – February 10, 1860) was an American clergyman, professor of languages and author. He was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland ...