Taught in the College Of The Bible, Lexington, Kentucky. On July 8, 1912 he was given the headship of the Bible Chair of Pedagogy. In retirement years, he became an accomplished painter, some of which were made into stain glass and now hang in the Cane Ridge Meetinghouse.
William Clayton Bower, a descendant of French Huguenot and British immigrants, was born on a farm near Wolcottville, Indiana on February 6, 1878. His early religious training was in the Wesleyan Methodist Church at Green's Chapel near his home. Because the congregation was on a circuit, his family spent alternate Sundays worshiping at a nearby Baptist church. Bower preached his first sermon at Green's Chapel at the age of 16, the same year he graduated from high school as the only male in a graduating class of three students. He spent the year after graduation teaching school in a neighboring town to earn the money for college. Thus began an educational career that extended until his death in 1982 at the age of 104. Bower attended Tri-State College in Angola, Indiana, graduating with a B.A. in 1898. There, he met Troas Hemry, whom he married in 1900. They had two sons, Philip Graydon and Clayton Hemry. During his college years, he supplied pulpits at a Methodist Church in Pleasant Lake, Indiana and a Christian Church in Angola, Indiana. Charles S. Medbury, the pastor of the Christian Church, had a profound influence on the young Bower, who became a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) during his college years. Over the course of his distinguished career, Bower answered questions about his reasons for leaving the Wesleyan Methodist Church by answering, with a wry smile, "In order to become a Christian!" (Wigglesworth, 6). He received further education at Butler College (now University) in Indianapolis where he came under the influence of Jabez Hall, Edward Scribner Ames, and Winifred Ernest Garrison. Bower served Disciples congregations in Indiana and New York for the next ten years before continuing his education at Columbia University, where he received his Master's Degree in 1910 and completed coursework toward his Ph.D. in 1918. Among his teachers at Columbia, the most influential were William H. Kilpatrick, E. L. Thorndike, and George Albert Coe. The latter would be the scholar with whom his own academic work would be most linked. Following his graduation from Columbia, Bower served as pastor of the Wilshire Boulevard Christian Church in Los Angeles for two years before beginning his academic career in 1912. Bower was called to fill the recently established Alexander Hopkins Chair of Bible School Pedagogy at the College of the Bible (now Lexington Theological Seminary) in 1912. The previous two years had seen the deaths or retirement of the entire faculty and administration of the College, with the exception of the Dean, Hall L. Calhoun. With such a transition in leadership, R. H. Crossfield, president of neighboring Transylvania College (now University), became President of both institutions. Crossfield was determined to fill the faculty at the College of the Bible with "progressive scholars" representing the "New Theology" and appointed Bower and A. W. Fortune in 1912 and Elmer E. Snoddy and George W. Hemry in 1914. Almost immediately, there were signs of controversy over the appointments. Letters from ten students, with the support and possible instigation of Dean Calhoun, led to Bower and the other three new appointees being brought before the Board of Trustees of the College in May, 1917 to face charges of heresy. At issue were charges that Bower and the others taught the theory of evolution and practiced the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation (charges Bower later gladly agreed were true) (Wigglesworth, 6). The nine-day trial resulted in acquittal on all charges. The tide of the trial was turned after excerpts from a book on evolution were read to one of the most vocal of Bower's opponents. When the trustee objected to the ideas in the passage, the critic quickly had to admit that the published words of support for evolution had been his own (The Disciple, 27). Bower taught at College of the Bible until 1926, serving as Dean for the last five years. He accepted an appointment to teach at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago in that year, and continued in that position until his retirement in 1943. Among his colleagues at Chicago were two former professors from Butler, W.E. Garrison and E.S. Ames. His academic work there was greatly influenced by the process theology of Alfred North Whitehead (Wigglesworth, 6). He continued his appreciation for the educational theory of John Dewey as well. During his tenure at the University of Chicago, Bower served as a director and vice-president of the Religious Education Association, was a member of the International Lesson Committee (beginning in 1917), and was a member and secretary of the Educational Commission of the International Council of Religious Education until its merger with the International Lesson Committee in 1928. Bower chaired the subcommittee of ICRE that published the "New International Curriculum of Religious Education" in 1920. This successor to the Uniform Lesson Series took the findings of the liberal/ progressive school of education and the contributions of educational psychology (under the influence of scholars like Dewey, Pierce, and Coe) seriously and shifted the focus of church school curriculum from a subject-centered, tradition-based curriculum to an experience-centered, "graded" curriculum (Moore, 35). The publication of this curriculum series marked a major turning point in the history of religious education. The ICRE's "Bower Report", published in 1922, described religious education as centered on the life situations of the individuals involved, with the Bible, tradition, and theology seen as resources from which persons might respond to these life situations (Moore, 40). He remained an active member of the ICRE beyond his retirement from the University of Chicago, and co-wrote the history of that organization (with Percy C. Hayward), Protestantism Faces Its Educational Task Together in 1949. While at Chicago, Bower (known by his students as "The Deacon") served as acting dean of the Divinity School on several occasions during the absences of William Cadman Colwell. Following his retirement, the Bowers returned to the home they still owned in Lexington, Kentucky and embarked on a very active "retirement" of thirty-nine years. Bower taught courses at Transylvania, the College of the Bible/ Lexington Theological Seminary, and the University of Kentucky. His long-standing belief that Christian religion and contemporary culture should be united in the life of the Christian through education was demonstrated through his activities in his retirement years (Seymour, O'Gorman, and Foster, 111). He developed a major in "Religion as a Phase of Culture" within the sociology department at the University of Kentucky. His leadership in this institution led to the development of the Kentucky Program of Moral and Spiritual Values, which advocated the importance of including the discussion of religion and values in public school education. His book, Moral and Spiritual Values in Education, published in 1952, reflected the work of the program he helped to develop. At Transylvania and College of the Bible, Bower taught courses in "The Living Bible" and "The Church At Work in the Modern World". He remained an active force in discussions of church school curriculum, the relationship between religion and society, and public school education throughout his career, serving on the School Board of Lexington, Kentucky, as a member of the 1940 White House Conference on Children in a Democracy, as a member of a commission studying the mission to the "Orient" conducted by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and with the Kentucky Program of Moral and Spiritual Values. A consistent advocate for "creative activities" in religious education, Bower's own creative side was engaged when his son gave him a gift of oil paints for Christmas, 1949. He took up his new hobby with a fervor and attention to detail. At the age of 71, Bower began a passion for painting that would last the remaining thirty-three years of his life. Many of his later articles and books were accompanied by Bower's illustrations, and several of his paintings hang in prominent locations in churches and other institutions associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The shrine building at the Cane Ridge Meetinghouse near Paris, Kentucky, which is considered one of the "birthplaces" of that denomination, features historical stained-glass medallions based on Bower's original paintings. Bower's mind and wit remained sharp until his death at the age of 104. He is remembered as one of a handful of scholars who made religious education respectable as a scholarly enterprise (Melchert, 20). He was one of the foremost advocates for the liberal/ progressive school of religious education and was a leading figure in the developments in church school curriculum during the early part of the twentieth century. His insistence that the traditional approaches to religious education were too transmissive and authoritarian led to his call for a religious education that began with and directed reflection upon present experience under the direction of the Christian tradition. "The educational program of the church," he said, " is experience-centered, seeking to help growing persons to meet and resolve life situations in Christian ways with the resources of the funded religious experience of the past." (Bower, 1943, 3). This consistent approach to religious education is reflected in the seventeen books he authored or co-authored and the more than one hundred articles he contributed to various journals. He saw religion as inseparable from the cultural experience of persons, and advocated the inclusion of religion within the development of values in public education. William Clayton Bower left a legacy of intellectual integrity, precision of thought, and commitment to an exploration of religion in all of life that has impacted the development of religious education in the twentieth century.
Work Cited: Much of the biographical information in the article comes from Stevenson, D. E. (1983). William Clayton Bower: Pioneer in religious education. Discipliana, 43 (3), 35- 40.
William Clayton Bower, a descendant of French Huguenot and British immigrants, was born on a farm near Wolcottville, Indiana on February 6, 1878. His early religious training was in the Wesleyan Methodist Church at Green's Chapel near his home. Because the congregation was on a circuit, his family spent alternate Sundays worshiping at a nearby Baptist church. Bower preached his first sermon at Green's Chapel at the age of 16, the same year he graduated from high school as the only male in a graduating class of three students. He spent the year after graduation teaching school in a neighboring town to earn the money for college. Thus began an educational career that extended until his death in 1982 at the age of 104. Bower attended Tri-State College in Angola, Indiana, graduating with a B.A. in 1898. There, he met Troas Hemry, whom he married in 1900. They had two sons, Philip Graydon and Clayton Hemry. During his college years, he supplied pulpits at a Methodist Church in Pleasant Lake, Indiana and a Christian Church in Angola, Indiana. Charles S. Medbury, the pastor of the Christian Church, had a profound influence on the young Bower, who became a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) during his college years. Over the course of his distinguished career, Bower answered questions about his reasons for leaving the Wesleyan Methodist Church by answering, with a wry smile, "In order to become a Christian!" (Wigglesworth, 6). He received further education at Butler College (now University) in Indianapolis where he came under the influence of Jabez Hall, Edward Scribner Ames, and Winifred Ernest Garrison. Bower served Disciples congregations in Indiana and New York for the next ten years before continuing his education at Columbia University, where he received his Master's Degree in 1910 and completed coursework toward his Ph.D. in 1918. Among his teachers at Columbia, the most influential were William H. Kilpatrick, E. L. Thorndike, and George Albert Coe. The latter would be the scholar with whom his own academic work would be most linked. Following his graduation from Columbia, Bower served as pastor of the Wilshire Boulevard Christian Church in Los Angeles for two years before beginning his academic career in 1912. Bower was called to fill the recently established Alexander Hopkins Chair of Bible School Pedagogy at the College of the Bible (now Lexington Theological Seminary) in 1912. The previous two years had seen the deaths or retirement of the entire faculty and administration of the College, with the exception of the Dean, Hall L. Calhoun. With such a transition in leadership, R. H. Crossfield, president of neighboring Transylvania College (now University), became President of both institutions. Crossfield was determined to fill the faculty at the College of the Bible with "progressive scholars" representing the "New Theology" and appointed Bower and A. W. Fortune in 1912 and Elmer E. Snoddy and George W. Hemry in 1914. Almost immediately, there were signs of controversy over the appointments. Letters from ten students, with the support and possible instigation of Dean Calhoun, led to Bower and the other three new appointees being brought before the Board of Trustees of the College in May, 1917 to face charges of heresy. At issue were charges that Bower and the others taught the theory of evolution and practiced the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation (charges Bower later gladly agreed were true) (Wigglesworth, 6). The nine-day trial resulted in acquittal on all charges. The tide of the trial was turned after excerpts from a book on evolution were read to one of the most vocal of Bower's opponents. When the trustee objected to the ideas in the passage, the critic quickly had to admit that the published words of support for evolution had been his own (The Disciple, 27). Bower taught at College of the Bible until 1926, serving as Dean for the last five years. He accepted an appointment to teach at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago in that year, and continued in that position until his retirement in 1943. Among his colleagues at Chicago were two former professors from Butler, W.E. Garrison and E.S. Ames. His academic work there was greatly influenced by the process theology of Alfred North Whitehead (Wigglesworth, 6). He continued his appreciation for the educational theory of John Dewey as well. During his tenure at the University of Chicago, Bower served as a director and vice-president of the Religious Education Association, was a member of the International Lesson Committee (beginning in 1917), and was a member and secretary of the Educational Commission of the International Council of Religious Education until its merger with the International Lesson Committee in 1928. Bower chaired the subcommittee of ICRE that published the "New International Curriculum of Religious Education" in 1920. This successor to the Uniform Lesson Series took the findings of the liberal/ progressive school of education and the contributions of educational psychology (under the influence of scholars like Dewey, Pierce, and Coe) seriously and shifted the focus of church school curriculum from a subject-centered, tradition-based curriculum to an experience-centered, "graded" curriculum (Moore, 35). The publication of this curriculum series marked a major turning point in the history of religious education. The ICRE's "Bower Report", published in 1922, described religious education as centered on the life situations of the individuals involved, with the Bible, tradition, and theology seen as resources from which persons might respond to these life situations (Moore, 40). He remained an active member of the ICRE beyond his retirement from the University of Chicago, and co-wrote the history of that organization (with Percy C. Hayward), Protestantism Faces Its Educational Task Together in 1949. While at Chicago, Bower (known by his students as "The Deacon") served as acting dean of the Divinity School on several occasions during the absences of William Cadman Colwell. Following his retirement, the Bowers returned to the home they still owned in Lexington, Kentucky and embarked on a very active "retirement" of thirty-nine years. Bower taught courses at Transylvania, the College of the Bible/ Lexington Theological Seminary, and the University of Kentucky. His long-standing belief that Christian religion and contemporary culture should be united in the life of the Christian through education was demonstrated through his activities in his retirement years (Seymour, O'Gorman, and Foster, 111). He developed a major in "Religion as a Phase of Culture" within the sociology department at the University of Kentucky. His leadership in this institution led to the development of the Kentucky Program of Moral and Spiritual Values, which advocated the importance of including the discussion of religion and values in public school education. His book, Moral and Spiritual Values in Education, published in 1952, reflected the work of the program he helped to develop. At Transylvania and College of the Bible, Bower taught courses in "The Living Bible" and "The Church At Work in the Modern World". He remained an active force in discussions of church school curriculum, the relationship between religion and society, and public school education throughout his career, serving on the School Board of Lexington, Kentucky, as a member of the 1940 White House Conference on Children in a Democracy, as a member of a commission studying the mission to the "Orient" conducted by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and with the Kentucky Program of Moral and Spiritual Values. A consistent advocate for "creative activities" in religious education, Bower's own creative side was engaged when his son gave him a gift of oil paints for Christmas, 1949. He took up his new hobby with a fervor and attention to detail. At the age of 71, Bower began a passion for painting that would last the remaining thirty-three years of his life. Many of his later articles and books were accompanied by Bower's illustrations, and several of his paintings hang in prominent locations in churches and other institutions associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The shrine building at the Cane Ridge Meetinghouse near Paris, Kentucky, which is considered one of the "birthplaces" of that denomination, features historical stained-glass medallions based on Bower's original paintings. Bower's mind and wit remained sharp until his death at the age of 104. He is remembered as one of a handful of scholars who made religious education respectable as a scholarly enterprise (Melchert, 20). He was one of the foremost advocates for the liberal/ progressive school of religious education and was a leading figure in the developments in church school curriculum during the early part of the twentieth century. His insistence that the traditional approaches to religious education were too transmissive and authoritarian led to his call for a religious education that began with and directed reflection upon present experience under the direction of the Christian tradition. "The educational program of the church," he said, " is experience-centered, seeking to help growing persons to meet and resolve life situations in Christian ways with the resources of the funded religious experience of the past." (Bower, 1943, 3). This consistent approach to religious education is reflected in the seventeen books he authored or co-authored and the more than one hundred articles he contributed to various journals. He saw religion as inseparable from the cultural experience of persons, and advocated the inclusion of religion within the development of values in public education. William Clayton Bower left a legacy of intellectual integrity, precision of thought, and commitment to an exploration of religion in all of life that has impacted the development of religious education in the twentieth century.
Work Cited: Much of the biographical information in the article comes from Stevenson, D. E. (1983). William Clayton Bower: Pioneer in religious education. Discipliana, 43 (3), 35- 40.
Taught in the College Of The Bible, Lexington, Kentucky. On July 8, 1912 he was given the headship of the Bible Chair of Pedagogy. In retirement years, he became an accomplished painter, some of which were made into stain glass and now hang in the Cane Ridge Meetinghouse.
William Clayton Bower, a descendant of French Huguenot and British immigrants, was born on a farm near Wolcottville, Indiana on February 6, 1878. His early religious training was in the Wesleyan Methodist Church at Green's Chapel near his home. Because the congregation was on a circuit, his family spent alternate Sundays worshiping at a nearby Baptist church. Bower preached his first sermon at Green's Chapel at the age of 16, the same year he graduated from high school as the only male in a graduating class of three students. He spent the year after graduation teaching school in a neighboring town to earn the money for college. Thus began an educational career that extended until his death in 1982 at the age of 104. Bower attended Tri-State College in Angola, Indiana, graduating with a B.A. in 1898. There, he met Troas Hemry, whom he married in 1900. They had two sons, Philip Graydon and Clayton Hemry. During his college years, he supplied pulpits at a Methodist Church in Pleasant Lake, Indiana and a Christian Church in Angola, Indiana. Charles S. Medbury, the pastor of the Christian Church, had a profound influence on the young Bower, who became a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) during his college years. Over the course of his distinguished career, Bower answered questions about his reasons for leaving the Wesleyan Methodist Church by answering, with a wry smile, "In order to become a Christian!" (Wigglesworth, 6). He received further education at Butler College (now University) in Indianapolis where he came under the influence of Jabez Hall, Edward Scribner Ames, and Winifred Ernest Garrison. Bower served Disciples congregations in Indiana and New York for the next ten years before continuing his education at Columbia University, where he received his Master's Degree in 1910 and completed coursework toward his Ph.D. in 1918. Among his teachers at Columbia, the most influential were William H. Kilpatrick, E. L. Thorndike, and George Albert Coe. The latter would be the scholar with whom his own academic work would be most linked. Following his graduation from Columbia, Bower served as pastor of the Wilshire Boulevard Christian Church in Los Angeles for two years before beginning his academic career in 1912. Bower was called to fill the recently established Alexander Hopkins Chair of Bible School Pedagogy at the College of the Bible (now Lexington Theological Seminary) in 1912. The previous two years had seen the deaths or retirement of the entire faculty and administration of the College, with the exception of the Dean, Hall L. Calhoun. With such a transition in leadership, R. H. Crossfield, president of neighboring Transylvania College (now University), became President of both institutions. Crossfield was determined to fill the faculty at the College of the Bible with "progressive scholars" representing the "New Theology" and appointed Bower and A. W. Fortune in 1912 and Elmer E. Snoddy and George W. Hemry in 1914. Almost immediately, there were signs of controversy over the appointments. Letters from ten students, with the support and possible instigation of Dean Calhoun, led to Bower and the other three new appointees being brought before the Board of Trustees of the College in May, 1917 to face charges of heresy. At issue were charges that Bower and the others taught the theory of evolution and practiced the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation (charges Bower later gladly agreed were true) (Wigglesworth, 6). The nine-day trial resulted in acquittal on all charges. The tide of the trial was turned after excerpts from a book on evolution were read to one of the most vocal of Bower's opponents. When the trustee objected to the ideas in the passage, the critic quickly had to admit that the published words of support for evolution had been his own (The Disciple, 27). Bower taught at College of the Bible until 1926, serving as Dean for the last five years. He accepted an appointment to teach at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago in that year, and continued in that position until his retirement in 1943. Among his colleagues at Chicago were two former professors from Butler, W.E. Garrison and E.S. Ames. His academic work there was greatly influenced by the process theology of Alfred North Whitehead (Wigglesworth, 6). He continued his appreciation for the educational theory of John Dewey as well. During his tenure at the University of Chicago, Bower served as a director and vice-president of the Religious Education Association, was a member of the International Lesson Committee (beginning in 1917), and was a member and secretary of the Educational Commission of the International Council of Religious Education until its merger with the International Lesson Committee in 1928. Bower chaired the subcommittee of ICRE that published the "New International Curriculum of Religious Education" in 1920. This successor to the Uniform Lesson Series took the findings of the liberal/ progressive school of education and the contributions of educational psychology (under the influence of scholars like Dewey, Pierce, and Coe) seriously and shifted the focus of church school curriculum from a subject-centered, tradition-based curriculum to an experience-centered, "graded" curriculum (Moore, 35). The publication of this curriculum series marked a major turning point in the history of religious education. The ICRE's "Bower Report", published in 1922, described religious education as centered on the life situations of the individuals involved, with the Bible, tradition, and theology seen as resources from which persons might respond to these life situations (Moore, 40). He remained an active member of the ICRE beyond his retirement from the University of Chicago, and co-wrote the history of that organization (with Percy C. Hayward), Protestantism Faces Its Educational Task Together in 1949. While at Chicago, Bower (known by his students as "The Deacon") served as acting dean of the Divinity School on several occasions during the absences of William Cadman Colwell. Following his retirement, the Bowers returned to the home they still owned in Lexington, Kentucky and embarked on a very active "retirement" of thirty-nine years. Bower taught courses at Transylvania, the College of the Bible/ Lexington Theological Seminary, and the University of Kentucky. His long-standing belief that Christian religion and contemporary culture should be united in the life of the Christian through education was demonstrated through his activities in his retirement years (Seymour, O'Gorman, and Foster, 111). He developed a major in "Religion as a Phase of Culture" within the sociology department at the University of Kentucky. His leadership in this institution led to the development of the Kentucky Program of Moral and Spiritual Values, which advocated the importance of including the discussion of religion and values in public school education. His book, Moral and Spiritual Values in Education, published in 1952, reflected the work of the program he helped to develop. At Transylvania and College of the Bible, Bower taught courses in "The Living Bible" and "The Church At Work in the Modern World". He remained an active force in discussions of church school curriculum, the relationship between religion and society, and public school education throughout his career, serving on the School Board of Lexington, Kentucky, as a member of the 1940 White House Conference on Children in a Democracy, as a member of a commission studying the mission to the "Orient" conducted by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and with the Kentucky Program of Moral and Spiritual Values. A consistent advocate for "creative activities" in religious education, Bower's own creative side was engaged when his son gave him a gift of oil paints for Christmas, 1949. He took up his new hobby with a fervor and attention to detail. At the age of 71, Bower began a passion for painting that would last the remaining thirty-three years of his life. Many of his later articles and books were accompanied by Bower's illustrations, and several of his paintings hang in prominent locations in churches and other institutions associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The shrine building at the Cane Ridge Meetinghouse near Paris, Kentucky, which is considered one of the "birthplaces" of that denomination, features historical stained-glass medallions based on Bower's original paintings. Bower's mind and wit remained sharp until his death at the age of 104. He is remembered as one of a handful of scholars who made religious education respectable as a scholarly enterprise (Melchert, 20). He was one of the foremost advocates for the liberal/ progressive school of religious education and was a leading figure in the developments in church school curriculum during the early part of the twentieth century. His insistence that the traditional approaches to religious education were too transmissive and authoritarian led to his call for a religious education that began with and directed reflection upon present experience under the direction of the Christian tradition. "The educational program of the church," he said, " is experience-centered, seeking to help growing persons to meet and resolve life situations in Christian ways with the resources of the funded religious experience of the past." (Bower, 1943, 3). This consistent approach to religious education is reflected in the seventeen books he authored or co-authored and the more than one hundred articles he contributed to various journals. He saw religion as inseparable from the cultural experience of persons, and advocated the inclusion of religion within the development of values in public education. William Clayton Bower left a legacy of intellectual integrity, precision of thought, and commitment to an exploration of religion in all of life that has impacted the development of religious education in the twentieth century.
Work Cited: Much of the biographical information in the article comes from Stevenson, D. E. (1983). William Clayton Bower: Pioneer in religious education. Discipliana, 43 (3), 35- 40.
William Clayton Bower, a descendant of French Huguenot and British immigrants, was born on a farm near Wolcottville, Indiana on February 6, 1878. His early religious training was in the Wesleyan Methodist Church at Green's Chapel near his home. Because the congregation was on a circuit, his family spent alternate Sundays worshiping at a nearby Baptist church. Bower preached his first sermon at Green's Chapel at the age of 16, the same year he graduated from high school as the only male in a graduating class of three students. He spent the year after graduation teaching school in a neighboring town to earn the money for college. Thus began an educational career that extended until his death in 1982 at the age of 104. Bower attended Tri-State College in Angola, Indiana, graduating with a B.A. in 1898. There, he met Troas Hemry, whom he married in 1900. They had two sons, Philip Graydon and Clayton Hemry. During his college years, he supplied pulpits at a Methodist Church in Pleasant Lake, Indiana and a Christian Church in Angola, Indiana. Charles S. Medbury, the pastor of the Christian Church, had a profound influence on the young Bower, who became a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) during his college years. Over the course of his distinguished career, Bower answered questions about his reasons for leaving the Wesleyan Methodist Church by answering, with a wry smile, "In order to become a Christian!" (Wigglesworth, 6). He received further education at Butler College (now University) in Indianapolis where he came under the influence of Jabez Hall, Edward Scribner Ames, and Winifred Ernest Garrison. Bower served Disciples congregations in Indiana and New York for the next ten years before continuing his education at Columbia University, where he received his Master's Degree in 1910 and completed coursework toward his Ph.D. in 1918. Among his teachers at Columbia, the most influential were William H. Kilpatrick, E. L. Thorndike, and George Albert Coe. The latter would be the scholar with whom his own academic work would be most linked. Following his graduation from Columbia, Bower served as pastor of the Wilshire Boulevard Christian Church in Los Angeles for two years before beginning his academic career in 1912. Bower was called to fill the recently established Alexander Hopkins Chair of Bible School Pedagogy at the College of the Bible (now Lexington Theological Seminary) in 1912. The previous two years had seen the deaths or retirement of the entire faculty and administration of the College, with the exception of the Dean, Hall L. Calhoun. With such a transition in leadership, R. H. Crossfield, president of neighboring Transylvania College (now University), became President of both institutions. Crossfield was determined to fill the faculty at the College of the Bible with "progressive scholars" representing the "New Theology" and appointed Bower and A. W. Fortune in 1912 and Elmer E. Snoddy and George W. Hemry in 1914. Almost immediately, there were signs of controversy over the appointments. Letters from ten students, with the support and possible instigation of Dean Calhoun, led to Bower and the other three new appointees being brought before the Board of Trustees of the College in May, 1917 to face charges of heresy. At issue were charges that Bower and the others taught the theory of evolution and practiced the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation (charges Bower later gladly agreed were true) (Wigglesworth, 6). The nine-day trial resulted in acquittal on all charges. The tide of the trial was turned after excerpts from a book on evolution were read to one of the most vocal of Bower's opponents. When the trustee objected to the ideas in the passage, the critic quickly had to admit that the published words of support for evolution had been his own (The Disciple, 27). Bower taught at College of the Bible until 1926, serving as Dean for the last five years. He accepted an appointment to teach at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago in that year, and continued in that position until his retirement in 1943. Among his colleagues at Chicago were two former professors from Butler, W.E. Garrison and E.S. Ames. His academic work there was greatly influenced by the process theology of Alfred North Whitehead (Wigglesworth, 6). He continued his appreciation for the educational theory of John Dewey as well. During his tenure at the University of Chicago, Bower served as a director and vice-president of the Religious Education Association, was a member of the International Lesson Committee (beginning in 1917), and was a member and secretary of the Educational Commission of the International Council of Religious Education until its merger with the International Lesson Committee in 1928. Bower chaired the subcommittee of ICRE that published the "New International Curriculum of Religious Education" in 1920. This successor to the Uniform Lesson Series took the findings of the liberal/ progressive school of education and the contributions of educational psychology (under the influence of scholars like Dewey, Pierce, and Coe) seriously and shifted the focus of church school curriculum from a subject-centered, tradition-based curriculum to an experience-centered, "graded" curriculum (Moore, 35). The publication of this curriculum series marked a major turning point in the history of religious education. The ICRE's "Bower Report", published in 1922, described religious education as centered on the life situations of the individuals involved, with the Bible, tradition, and theology seen as resources from which persons might respond to these life situations (Moore, 40). He remained an active member of the ICRE beyond his retirement from the University of Chicago, and co-wrote the history of that organization (with Percy C. Hayward), Protestantism Faces Its Educational Task Together in 1949. While at Chicago, Bower (known by his students as "The Deacon") served as acting dean of the Divinity School on several occasions during the absences of William Cadman Colwell. Following his retirement, the Bowers returned to the home they still owned in Lexington, Kentucky and embarked on a very active "retirement" of thirty-nine years. Bower taught courses at Transylvania, the College of the Bible/ Lexington Theological Seminary, and the University of Kentucky. His long-standing belief that Christian religion and contemporary culture should be united in the life of the Christian through education was demonstrated through his activities in his retirement years (Seymour, O'Gorman, and Foster, 111). He developed a major in "Religion as a Phase of Culture" within the sociology department at the University of Kentucky. His leadership in this institution led to the development of the Kentucky Program of Moral and Spiritual Values, which advocated the importance of including the discussion of religion and values in public school education. His book, Moral and Spiritual Values in Education, published in 1952, reflected the work of the program he helped to develop. At Transylvania and College of the Bible, Bower taught courses in "The Living Bible" and "The Church At Work in the Modern World". He remained an active force in discussions of church school curriculum, the relationship between religion and society, and public school education throughout his career, serving on the School Board of Lexington, Kentucky, as a member of the 1940 White House Conference on Children in a Democracy, as a member of a commission studying the mission to the "Orient" conducted by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and with the Kentucky Program of Moral and Spiritual Values. A consistent advocate for "creative activities" in religious education, Bower's own creative side was engaged when his son gave him a gift of oil paints for Christmas, 1949. He took up his new hobby with a fervor and attention to detail. At the age of 71, Bower began a passion for painting that would last the remaining thirty-three years of his life. Many of his later articles and books were accompanied by Bower's illustrations, and several of his paintings hang in prominent locations in churches and other institutions associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The shrine building at the Cane Ridge Meetinghouse near Paris, Kentucky, which is considered one of the "birthplaces" of that denomination, features historical stained-glass medallions based on Bower's original paintings. Bower's mind and wit remained sharp until his death at the age of 104. He is remembered as one of a handful of scholars who made religious education respectable as a scholarly enterprise (Melchert, 20). He was one of the foremost advocates for the liberal/ progressive school of religious education and was a leading figure in the developments in church school curriculum during the early part of the twentieth century. His insistence that the traditional approaches to religious education were too transmissive and authoritarian led to his call for a religious education that began with and directed reflection upon present experience under the direction of the Christian tradition. "The educational program of the church," he said, " is experience-centered, seeking to help growing persons to meet and resolve life situations in Christian ways with the resources of the funded religious experience of the past." (Bower, 1943, 3). This consistent approach to religious education is reflected in the seventeen books he authored or co-authored and the more than one hundred articles he contributed to various journals. He saw religion as inseparable from the cultural experience of persons, and advocated the inclusion of religion within the development of values in public education. William Clayton Bower left a legacy of intellectual integrity, precision of thought, and commitment to an exploration of religion in all of life that has impacted the development of religious education in the twentieth century.
Work Cited: Much of the biographical information in the article comes from Stevenson, D. E. (1983). William Clayton Bower: Pioneer in religious education. Discipliana, 43 (3), 35- 40.
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