Charles Rosenbury Erdman

Born in Fayetteville, New York, in 1866, Charles Rosenbury Erdman Sr. became an American Presbyterian minister, teacher, and author. He studied at Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, was ordained in 1891, and went on to serve both in pastoral ministry and in the classroom.

Erdman is especially remembered for his years as a professor of practical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and for the large body of devotional and biblical writing he produced. He wrote more than thirty popular commentaries and books, with a style meant to be useful to ministers, Bible students, and general readers rather than only to specialists.

He also played an important role in Presbyterian church life, serving as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in 1925. During his years in Princeton, he was involved in efforts that helped bring institutions such as Westminster Choir College and the American Boychoir School to the town. He died in 1960.