One of the most popular American preachers of the 19th century, Episcopalian bishop Phillips Brooks was famous-and beloved-for his collections of sermons. The Purpose and Use of Comfort, first published in 1878, includes the title sermon as well as: . "The Withheld Completions of Life" . "The Conqueror from Edom" . "Keeping the Faith" . "The Soul's Refuge in God" . "The Man with One Talent" . "Is It I?" . "The Food of Man" . "The Symbol and the Reality" . and more. American clergyman PHILLIPS BROOKS (1835-1893) is also the author of Bohlen Lectures on The Influence of Jesus (1879) and Sermons Preached in English Churches (1883), but he is best remembered for writing the Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem."
Phillips Brooks was an American clergyman and author, who briefly served as Bishop of Massachusetts in the Episcopal Church during the early 1890s.
In 1859 he graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary, was ordained deacon by Bishop William Meade of Virginia, and became rector of the Church of the Advent, Philadelphia. In 1860 he was ordained priest, and in 1862 became rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia, where he remained seven years, gaining an increasing name as preacher and patriot.
In 1877 Brooks published a course of lectures upon preaching, which he had delivered at the theological school of Yale University, and which are an expression of his own experience. In 1879 appeared the Bohlen Lectures on The Influence of Jesus. In 1878 he published his first volume of sermons, and from time to time issued other volumes, including Sermons Preached in English Churches (1883).
Today, he is probably best known for authoring the Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem".
He was born in Boston in 1835 and educated at Harvard and at Virginia Theological Seminary. After ten years of ministry at two churches in Philadelphia, he returned to Boston in 1869 and was rector of Trinity Church there until 1891. He was then elected Bishop of Massachusetts, and died two years later.
Phillips Brooks is best known today as the author of "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Former generations, however, accounted him the greatest American preacher of the nineteenth century (and not for lack of other candidates). His sermons are still read.... Show more