Isaac Massey Haldeman

Born in Pennsylvania in 1845, Isaac Massey Haldeman became a Baptist minister after service connected to the Civil War era and went on to serve churches in Pennsylvania and Delaware before being called to First Baptist Church in New York City in 1884. He remained there for the rest of his life and became known for his preaching, especially on biblical interpretation and prophecy.

Haldeman also wrote extensively. His books include Why I Preach the Second Coming, The Signs of the Times, The Tabernacle, Priesthood and Offerings, and Christ, Christianity and the Bible. Many of his works grew out of sermons and public teaching, which gives them a direct, energetic tone that still feels accessible to readers interested in classic Protestant thought.

He died in 1933, after nearly half a century at the New York pastorate that defined his public life. Today he is remembered both as a prominent Baptist preacher and as a prolific religious writer whose books preserve the convictions and preaching style of an influential strand of early 20th-century evangelicalism.