Frank Knight Sanders

Frank Knight Sanders
Born(1861-02-05)February 5, 1861
Jaffna, Sri Lanka
DiedFebruary 20, 1933(1933-02-20) (aged 72)
Rockport, Massachusetts, US
Education
Occupation(s)Missionary, theologian, scholar, minister
Spouse
Edith Blackman
(m. 1888)
Children3

Frank Knight Sanders (June 5, 1861 – February 20, 1933) was an American missionary, theologian, scholar and congregational minister.

Biography

He was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka to American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions missionary parents: Rev. Marshall Danworth Sanders (1822-1872), the first president of Jaffna College and his first wife Georgiana Knight (died 1868), daughter of Rev. Asher Knight.[1] Two of his brothers were also ABCFM missionaries: William Henry Sanders (1856-1947) Benguella in Angola and Charles Sylvester (1854-1906) in Anitab, Turkey.[2]

In 1865 his parents returned to the US for a short stay and left him with his uncle.

He was prepared for college in a private academy in Lakeville and in the preparatory department of Ripon College from which he graduated in 1882.[1] He sailed with ABCFM to Ceylon, where he became an instructor in Jaffna College from 1882 to 1886. In 1886 he returned to America and received a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1889 and became instructor in Biblical Literature and Semitic Languages in Yale College until 1891.[1] In 1891 he became the Woolsey Professor of Biblical Literature at Yale Divinity. In 1901 he became Professor of Biblical History and Archaeology and the second Dean of Yale Divinity School - he was ordained as a Congregational minister on January 7, 1902.[3] In 1905 he resigned the deanship and became the secretary of the Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society at Boston, Mass. until 1908 when he became president of Washburn College.[4] In 1914 he resigned the presidency and became Director of Missionary Preparation for the Foreign Missions Conference of North America until 1927 when he retired.[4]

He married Edith Blackman on June 27, 1888, and they had three children.[1][4]

Sanders died in Rockport, Massachusetts on February 20, 1933.[4]

Works

He was also the editor of the Historical Series for Bible Students, published in nine volumes, and of the Messages of the Bible, in twelve volumes.

He was a regular contributor of weekly articles in the Sunday School Times since 1895.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Chamberlain, Joshua L., ed. (1899). Universities and Their Sons. Vol. II. Boston: R. Herndon Company. p. 565. Retrieved May 12, 2025 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ "Frank Knight Sanders". Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. Vol. III, Part 1. 1912. pp. 636–637. Retrieved May 12, 2025 – via KSGenWeb.
  3. ^ "School and College: Yale University". Boston Evening Transcript. January 8, 1902. p. 8. Retrieved May 12, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c d "Funeral of Dr Sanders at Rockport Thursday". The Boston Globe. Rockport, Massachusetts. February 21, 1933. p. 13. Retrieved May 12, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.