Instruction in Religion: The Board of Preachers

The Board of Preachers was officially inaugurated in 1886, and Francis G. Peabody was appointed first Chairman, with functions resembling those of a university dean in England.

Five well-know ministers from different denominations were to assist Peabody--among them Edward Everett Hale and Phillips Brooks. Each of the University Preachers conducted daily prayers and Sunday services for six weeks, and held daily office hours in Wadsworth House for consultation with students.

After one stay at Wadsworth House, Phillips Brooks reported that he consulted with over 150 students. Another minister reported that "he had had more serious conversation in Wadsworth than he had ever had in the same amount of time in his professional life."

George A. Gordon, another minister on the original Board, met with somewhat less successs: "Only two students came into see me. One asked the way to the kingdom of heaven, and the other wished to be directed to the bursar's office."

But as a whole, the new system of religious instruction was successful, and welcomed by the University and the Boston press.

The advantages of retaining a group of respected ministers at Harvard were apparent. The monotony of chapel services, often complained of by the students, was largely done away with. Further, there would be no opening for charges of denominational prejudice.

However, as Buttrick points out, the system instituted in 1886 had certain disadvantages. Chief among these was the "coming and going" of ministers: they remained in Cambridge for only six weeks, and the students felt the lack of "someone with whom they could consult on a permanent basis." Thus in recent years the emphasis has shifted to permanency and a greater importance for the Chairman of the Board of Preachers, while the other members continue to serve on an advisory basis, and are appointed for one year terms only.

Willard Sperry, Buttrick's predecessor as University Preacher. was appointed in 1928 and served concurrently as Dean of the Divinity School. Because of his responsibilities at the School which was very near collapse, Sperry was forced to neglect his duties at Memorial Church. He resigned both posts in 1953.

The University considered the situation, and decided to separate the posts of Dean of the Divinity School and Chairman of the Board of Preachers. A committee of leading clergymen, headed by Provost Buck, was named to nominate a new Board Chairman.

The Committee's search for a qualified clergymen and scholar able to hold his own with the other members of the faculty on the basis of his academic achievements, continued through 1954, and culminated in the appointment of Buttrick at the end of the year.

Buttrick's responsibilities as Chairman of the Board of Preachers continue to be exacting, to say the least of it. He usually preaches at Memorial Church two Sundays out of three, is present at morning chapel and--as one of the nation's most widely-known preachers--is often called upon to come to churches and universities throughout the country.

As Chairman of the faculty committee for the Phillips Brooks House Association Buttrick advocates as much student autonomy as possible. He takes a similar "hands off" attitude toward his other work, and decries administrators who "use people as mere objects to be squeezed into blueprints." Accordingly, Buttrick's plans for the future of Memorial Church hinge on the establishment of an advisory-type committee, possibly this fall, to aid him in making decisions.

The committee would presumably be largely undergraduate, with graduate and faculty members