William Faunce

William Herbert Perry Faunce (January 15, 1859 – January 31, 1930) was an American clergyman and educator.

Biography

William Faunce was born at Worcester, Massachusetts. His father was clergyman Daniel Faunce. He graduated in 1880 at Brown University (where he then taught mathematics for a year), and at 1884 at Newton Theological Seminary, and from 1884 to 1889 was pastor of the State Street Baptist Church of Springfield, Massachusetts. From 1889 to 1899 he was pastor of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church of New York City, New York, in 1896-97 he lectured in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, and in 1898-99 he was a member of the board of resident preachers of Harvard University. In 1899 he became president of Brown University; during his administration the endowment of the university was largely increased. He was Lyman Beecher lecturer at Yale University in 1907-08 and was prominent in the work of the Religious Education Association. His writings include numerous contributions, chiefly to religious periodicals, and the volumes The Educational Ideal in the Ministry (1909) and What Does Christianity Mean? (1912).

Faunce died on January 31, 1930 in Providence, Rhode Island, at the age of 71. Later that year, Brown's student center was renamed Faunce House in his honor, at the request of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who contributed $600,000 toward its renovation.

Works

• The Educational Ideal in the Ministry (1908).
• What Does Christianity Mean? (1912).
• The Social Aspects of Foreign Missions (1914).
• The New Horizon of State and Church (1918).
• Religion and War (1918).
• Facing Life (1928).