Russell, Elbert, 1871-1951

Elbert Russell (1871-1951) was a Quaker teacher, historian, and writer. His was a leading voice in bringing the insights of liberal, British Friends on the primacy of revelation and the importance of scholarship in the renewal of faith into American Quakerism. He was Professor of Bible at Earlham College 1895 to 1915 and served as chaplain. He later taught at Johns Hopkins and then became Dean at Duke University.

Elbert Russell served as a Quaker historian, author, minister, and Dean of the Divinity School at Duke University from 1928 until 1941.

Elbert Russell, Quaker historian, author, minister, and leader, was born in 1871 in Friendsville, Tennessee. He was educated at Earlham College (Richmond, Ind.) and the University of Chicago. After earning a degree at the University of Chicago (Ph.D.), he returned to teach religion at Earlham College from 1895 to 1915. Russell also taught at Johns Hopkins University, Woolman College, Haverford College, and Swarthmore College.

Russell joined the faculty of the Duke University Divinity School in 1926 as a professor of Biblical Interpretation. In 1929, he became Dean of the Divinity School. He served on the Executive Committee of Carolina Institute of International Relations and worked closely with colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to establish a network of specialists in nonviolent international relations. When he retired from the Divinity School in 1942, the Divinity School Alumni Association established the Elbert Russell Scholarship in his honor.

Russell was a prominent leader of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, a traditionally pacifist religious group. He was a guest speaker at Quaker educational institutions, a visiting preacher at churches and religious gatherings across the country, and a teacher of nonviolent conflict resolution. In 1927, he traveled to Central America in on a goodwill mission. After World War II, he traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East working on projects for his church and as a representative of the American Friends Services Committee. A pacifist, Russell had helped young men to defend their right to declare themselves conscientious objectors of war.

Some of Elbert Russell's writings include The Beatitudes (1929), The Book of Revelation: with an introduction, paraphrase and notes (1930), The Message of the Fourth Gospel (1932), A History of Quakerism (1942), and Elbert Russell, Quaker: an Autobiography (1956).

After retiring from Duke University in 1942, Russell and his family lived in Greensboro, N.C., Mobile, Ala., and St. Petersburg, Fla. Russell was married to Lieuetta Cox Russell, and had two children. Elbert Russell died in 1951 at age 80.