Simon Greenleaf
Simon Greenleaf (December 5, 1783 – October 6, 1853), was an American
Early life and legal career
Greenleaf's family traces its ancestry back to Edmund Greenleaf, who lived in Ipswich, Suffolk in England before emigrating and settling in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The Greenleaf family flourished in this part of Massachusetts for almost 150 years prior to Simon's birth in 1783. Simon's father, Moses Greenleaf, married Lydia Parsons, daughter of Rev. Jonathan Parsons of Newburyport. Their son Moses Greenleaf (1777–1834), Simon's older brother, became a distinguished surveyor and mapmaker in Maine.
In the 1790s, Simon's parents moved to New Gloucester in Maine, leaving him in Newburyport under the care of his grandfather Jonathan Greenleaf. There Simon was educated at the Latin school and studied the Greco-Roman classics. When he turned 16 years old, he rejoined his parents in New Gloucester. In 1801 he joined the law office of Ezekiel Whitman (later the Chief Justice of Maine) and in 1806 was admitted to the Cumberland County bar as a legal practitioner. On 22 Mar 1806, in New Gloucester, he married Hannah Kingman.[1]
He then opened a legal practice at
Greenleaf was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1820.[2]
He was awarded the honorary
Professorships
In 1833, Greenleaf was named to the
In 1848, Greenleaf retired from his active duties, and became professor emeritus. After being for many years president of the Massachusetts Bible Society, he died at Cambridge. Greenleaf's well-known work, a Treatise on the Law of Evidence, is considered a classic of American jurisprudence.
Contributions to Christian apologetics
Greenleaf is an important figure in the development of that
Several evangelical books and websites portray Greenleaf as an atheist who set out to disprove the Gospels, and claim that instead the evidence for Jesus' resurrection convinced him to become a Christian. Greenleaf was a devout evangelical Episcopalian, and no evidence exists that he ever doubted the truth of the Gospels.[5]
Other Writings
Greenleaf's principal work of legal scholarship is a Treatise on the Law of Evidence (3 vols., 1842–1853), and which remained a standard textbook in American law throughout the Nineteenth century. He also published A Full Collection of Cases Overruled, Denied, Doubted, or Limited in their Application, taken from American and English Reports (1821). He prepared and published Reports of Cases Argued and Determined by the Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Maine in nine volumes (1820–1832). He revised for the American courts
Mentioned by actress Marium Carvell, playing Selma Davis, in Judgment (a.k.a. Apocalypse IV)[6]
Simon Greenleaf School of Law
In 1980 it[
Bibliography
- Simon Greenleaf, ISBN 0-8010-3803-0
- Simon Greenleaf, "The Testimony of the Evangelists," reprinted from the 1903 edition as an appendix in John Warwick Montgomery, The Law Above The Law, (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1975), pp. 91–140 & 149-163. ISBN 0-87123-329-0
See also
Topics
- Apologetics
- Christian Apologetics
- Arguments for the Existence of God
- Thomism
- Evidentialist
- Jesus Christ
- Testimony of the Evangelist
- The Case for Christ
- Atheism
Apologists
References
- ^ "Maine, Marriages, 1771-1907," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F463-V4H : accessed 22 Oct 2014), Simon Greenleaf and Hannah Kingmon, 22 Mar 1806; citing New Gloucester, Maine, reference ; FHL microfilm 9795.
- ^ American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
- ^ 36 U.S. 420 (1837) Full text of Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge
- ^ Daniel D. Blinka, "The Roots of the Modern Trial, Greenleaf's Testimony to the Harmony of Christianity, Science, and a law In Antebellum America", 27 Journal of the Early Republic 293 (Summer 2007).
- IMDb
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Greenleaf, Simon". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- "Professor Simon Greenleaf" in Ross Clifford, Leading Lawyers ' Case for the Resurrection, (Edmonton: Canadian Institute for Law, theology and Public Policy, 1996), pp. 41–55 ISBN 1-896363-02-4
- John Warwick Montgomery, "Simon Greenleaf," Eternity magazine, November 1986, p. 21.
- "Simon Greenleaf," in Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 4, Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp 583–584.
- Summary of Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge from OYEZ
External links
- Media related to Simon Greenleaf at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by Simon Greenleaf at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Simon Greenleaf at Internet Archive
- Simon Greenleaf's Testimony of the Evangelists
- Philip Johnson, "Juridical Apologists 1600-2000 AD: A Bio-Bibliographical Essay," Global Journal of Classical Theology, 3/1 (2002).[1]
- "Finding aid for Simon Greenleaf, Papers, 1792-1853". Harvard Law School Library.