Schaff, Philip [key], 1819–93, biblical scholar and church historian in America, b. Switzerland. He went to the United States in 1844 to teach in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church, Mercersburg, Pa. His importance as an interpreter of German theology and (in his writings) as a conveyor of the religious thought of America to Germany gained wide recognition. From 1870 until his death he was professor at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, where he held the chair of sacred literature (1874) and of church history (1887). Schaff was president of the American branch of the English Bible Revision Committee. He edited the first edition (1882–84) of the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge and wrote A History of the Christian Church (7 vol., 1858–90). His literary work embraced the writing or editing of some 80 publications.
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