A. F. (Adolphus Frederick) Schauffler

Born in Pera, Constantinople, in 1845, Adolphus Frederick Schauffler was the son of missionary parents and went on to study at Williams College, graduating in 1867, and at Andover Theological Seminary, graduating in 1871. He later became a well-known Presbyterian minister and speaker whose work centered on Christian education and mission work.

Schauffler wrote extensively for teachers, pastors, and Sunday-school workers. Surviving catalogs of his books show a steady stream of practical titles on teaching, leadership, and religious instruction, including works such as Knowing and Teaching the Scholar, Pastoral Leadership of Sunday School Forces, and God's Book and God's Boy. His writing is remembered less for ornament than for its clear, usable advice.

He died in 1919, but his work continued to circulate through church libraries, archives, and reprints. For listeners coming to him now, he offers a window into an era when religious education was being organized with real seriousness and when authors like Schauffler aimed to give teachers tools they could put to work right away.