Miles, James Warley

(Nov. 24, 1818-Sept. 14, 1875). Priest and theologian. Miles was the leading intellectual figure of the Episcopal Church in the South in the mid-nineteenth century. He was born on his family's plantation in St. Matthew's Parish, Orangeburg District, South Carolina. He attended South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) and General Theological Seminary. He was ordained deacon on July 23, 1841, and served several small missions in South Carolina. He was ordained priest on Aug. 4, 1843. After a period as a missionary in the Near East between 1843 and 1847, Miles returned to parish work in Charleston, South Carolina. In Feb. 1850 he joined the faculty of the College of Charleston. He remained on the faculty of the College until 1871, despite periods of absence caused by ill heath and the threat of invasion during the Civil War. Miles published an extensive number of theological and philosophical works, including Philosophic Theology; or, Ultimate Ground of all Religious Belief Based on Reason (1849). He was a theological modernist who believed in God's progressive self-revelation through the course of history. Even biblical truths, he thought, could be judged by human reason and the historical process. Miles served briefly as rector of Grace Church, Camden, South Carolina, prior to his death.