Knox, John, 1900-1990

1936-1937 law clerk for Justice James Clark McReynolds.

Founded in 1921, the Journal of Religion was part of a long lineage of religious history and studies journals. One of the journals that the Journal of Religion grew out of was The Biblical World, which in turn was a continuation of a journal founded by William Rainey Harper in 1882. First known as The Hebrew Student, it was re-titled The Old Testament Student and The Old and New Testament Student before becoming The Biblical World in 1893. Harper edited the journal until his death in 1906. The position of editor passed first to Ernest DeWitt Burton, then to Shailer Mathews in 1913. The journal solicited articles on Biblical scholarship, examining historical subjects as well as current religious issues. It was aimed at a popular rather than a strictly academic audience.

Founded in 1897, the American Journal of Theology featured articles of a more technical and scholarly nature than The Biblical World. The title page stated that the "Faculty of the Divinity School" edited the journal, although by 1915 it was acknowledged that most of the faculty members were not directly involved in its production. The journal was reorganized in that year and two managing editors were named, Gerald B. Smith and Shirley Jackson Case, who served through 1920.

The Biblical World and the American Journal of Theology were each published by the Divinity School and managed by a single board of editors. Due to financial difficulties with both publications, it was decided to merge them under a new title, the Journal of Religion, which appeared beginning in 1921 with Gerald Smith as editor. Although intended to combine the features of its two predecessors, the new journal increasingly emphasized the scholarly side of theological studies.

Smith served as editor until 1926, when he was replaced by Shirley J. Case. Upon Case's retirement from the University in 1939, the editorship was given to John Knox (1939