George Foot Moore

George Foot Moore (October 15, 1851 – May 16, 1931) was an American historian of religion, author, professor, and Presbyterian minister.

Life

Moore was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the son of Rev. William Eves Moore and Harriet Foot Moore. He was educated at private schools, West Chester Academy and Wyer's School, entered Yale College as a junior in 1870, then graduated from Yale in 1872, as a Phi Beta Kappa and member of the Skull and Bones society. After teaching at Hopkins Grammar School from 1872 to 1873, he engaged in study and private teaching in Columbus, Ohio, 1873–74, then served as principal of Lancaster (Ohio) High School 1874-75. He studied theology in Columbus 1875-76 and graduated from Union Theological Seminary (New York) in 1877. He was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry at Columbus February 8, 1878, and became pastor of Putnam Presbyterian Church in Zanesville, Ohio, from 1878 to 1883. He Married Mary Soper, daughter of Albert Gallatin and Mary Ann (Chester) Hanford on April 25, 1878, in Chicago. They had two sons, William Eves, who died in infancy, and Albert Hanford.

In 1883 he was appointed to the chair of Hebrew at Andover Theological Seminary where he taught until 1902, serving as president of the seminary from 1899 to 1901 and lectured on the history of religion from 1893 to 1901. During his service to Andover, he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1885 from Marietta College, Ohio, and 12 years later, from Yale University in 1897. In 1902, he became a professor at the Harvard Divinity School, where he was appointed Frothingham Professor of the History of Religion in 1905, and Cabot Fellow for three years beginning in 1906. During his service at Harvard he obtained a degree of Legum Doctor in 1903 from Western Reserve University. He was a member of Harvard faculty from 1902 until retirement in 1928 and a preacher to the University from 1900 to 1903.