The Harvard Biblical Club (known as the Harvard Semitic Club until December 3, 1881) was founded on January 22, 1881 by Crawford Howell Toy, Harvard University Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages and Dexter Lecturer, as a Protestant biblical study group whose object was the study of the Old and New Testaments. The Club was established during the revival of biblical scholarship that took place in the latter half of the nineteenth century in both Europe and the United States. During this period, the study of biblical languages, the texts of the Old and New Testaments, various biblical versions, and biblical archaeology, geography, theology, and history, assumed new importance.
The initial founders of the Club, in addition to Toy, were George H. Whittemore, a Cambridge minister, John Orne, Curator of Arabic manuscripts at the Harvard Semitic Museum, Peter Henry Steenstra, instructor of Hebrew and the Old and New Testament at the Episcopal Theological School of Cambridge, Ezra Abbot, Bussey Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation at the Harvard Divinity School, Charles Mead, Professor of Hebrew at the Andover Theological Seminary, Timothy Otis Paine, teacher of Hebrew in the theological school of the General Convention of the New Jerusalem Church in Boston, and Oakman Sprague Stearns, Professor of Biblical Interpretations of the Old Testament at the Newton Theological Institution.
Toy was the Club's first and only president. George H. Whittemore served as the Club's secretary. The early meetings of the Club were held in the homes of its members, meeting twice a month. In later years, the Club met monthly at the New Church Seminary (1881-1889), the Unitarian Building (1889-1914), and the building of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1914-1919); all of them in Boston. Each member was assigned to read a paper about the Old or New Testament, followed by a discussion and lunch. Usually, each member presented a paper by a member every three years.
During its existence the Club's membership included many prominent religious scholars from Harvard University and other Boston area theological schools. In its heyday, the Club had nearly 20 members, but by 1919 the death of Toy and an aging membership, caused the Club to dissolve.
- Compiled from the Records of the Harvard Biblical Club.
- Briggs, Charles Augustus. History of the Study of Theology. Vol 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916.
- Lyon, David G. "Crawford Howell Toy." Harvard Theological Review 13(January 1920) : 1-22.
From the guide to the Records of the Harvard Biblical Club, 1881-1919., (Harvard University Archives)
