Grant, Frederick Clifton

(Feb. 2, 1891-July 11, 1974). Scholar and theologian. He was born in Beloit, Wisconsin. Grant was ordained deacon on June 6, 1912, and received his B.D. from the General Theological Seminary in 1913. He was ordained priest on June 22, 1913, and served parishes in Michigan and Illinois before becoming professor of systematic theology at the Berkeley Divinity School in 1926. From 1927 until 1938, he was president of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and presided over the merger of Western Seminary and Seabury in 1933. Grant was professor of biblical theology at Union Theological Seminary, New York, from 1938 until his retirement in 1959. He was editor-in-chief of the Anglican Theological Review from 1924 until 1955. In 1962-1963 he was an Anglican Observer at Vatican Council II. Grant wrote thirty-one books, including An Introduction to New Testament Thought (1950) and Ancient Judaism and the New Testament. He is notable for introducing form criticism to America and for pioneering the use of insights from sociology for the interpretation of early Christianity. He died in New York City.