Shepherd, Massey Hamilton, Jr.

(Mar. 14, 1913-Feb. 18, 1990). Liturgist and educator. He was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. Shepherd received his B.A. in 1932, and his M.A. in 1933, both from the University of South Carolina. In 1937 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and in 1941 his B.D. from the Berkeley Divinity School. Shepherd was ordained deacon on Mar. 5, 1941, and priest on Sept. 17, 1941. From 1937 until 1940, he was an instructor at the University of Chicago, and from 1940 until 1954, he was professor of church history at the Episcopal Theological School. While at the Episcopal Theological School, he served as an assistant at St. John's Church, Roxbury, Massachusetts. He taught frequently in the Graduate School of Theology of the University of the South, and was its director from 1952 until 1970. From 1954 until 1981, when he retired, Shepherd was professor of liturgics at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. He was president of the American Church History Society in 1949, and president of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church from 1961 until 1974. Shepherd served on numerous worship and ecumenical boards and commissions, most notably the Standing Liturgical Commission from 1947 until 1976. Of his many publications, The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary (1950) is one of the most important. He was a major architect of the 1979 BCP. Shepherd died in Sacramento, California.