author
David James Burrell
1844–1926
A prolific American preacher and religious writer, he spent decades in major pulpits and published a large body of sermons, devotional works, and books on Christian faith. His writing is direct, practical, and shaped by long experience speaking to everyday churchgoers.
1 Audiobook
The Centurion's Story
by David James Burrell
About the author
Born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, on August 1, 1844, David James Burrell was educated at Yale University and then at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Early in his ministry he worked in Chicago, and he later served pastorates in Dubuque and Minneapolis before taking the pulpit of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, where he remained for many years.
Burrell was known above all as a preacher, but he was also a remarkably productive author. Library and archival records show a long list of published sermons and religious books under his name, including works on the teachings of Jesus, the apostle Paul, world religions, and the Christian life. His books reflect the style that made him widely read: clear, earnest, and designed to speak to a broad audience rather than a specialist one.
He died on December 5, 1926. A full-length biography appeared a few years later, which suggests the extent of his reputation in American Protestant life and the impression he made on readers and congregations of his time.