Rowe, Gilbert Theodore

Gilbert Theodore Rowe was born in Salisbury, NC on September 10, 1875. He received his A.B. and D.D. from Trinity College in 1895 and 1914, respectively. He earned his S.T.D. at Temple University in 1905 and was awarded a Litt. D. from Duke University in 1925. In 1928, he returned to Duke University's School of Religion (eventually Divinity School) as Professor and Chair of Christian Doctrine and remained until his retirement in 1949.

From the description of Gilbert T. Rowe papers, 1878-1965. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 159934624

Gilbert Theodore Rowe was born in Salisbury, NC on September 10, 1875. His father was Joseph Columbus Rowe, a Methodist minister. He received his A.B. and D.D. from Trinity College in 1895 and 1914, respectively. He earned his S.T.D. at Temple University in 1905 and was awarded a Litt.D. from Duke University in 1925. He was admitted to the Western North Carolina Conference in 1896, only six years after the two state conferences were formed. Received into Full Connection in 1898, he began to serve pastorates, in eleven successive appointments, until 1920. It was while he served the church at Albemarle that he married Caroline Pearle Bostian in 1902. They had two sons.

In 1920, Dr. Rowe became editor, first of the North Carolina Christian Advocate and then of the Methodist Quarterly Review at Nashville until 1928, serving simultaneously as Book Editor for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It was in this period that he produced his works, The Meaning of Methodism and Reality in Religion for the 1927 Quillian Lectures at Emory University.

In 1928, Dr. Rowe accepted an offer from Duke President William Few to return to his alma mater as Professor and Chair of Christian Doctrine in the School of Religion at Duke University. He served as Professor of Christine Doctrine at the University until his retirement in 1949, and continued to serve both Duke and the Methodist church until his death on February 10, 1960.

From the guide to the Gilbert Theodore Rowe Papers, 1878-1965, (University Archives, Duke University)