HORTON, DOUGLAS

U.S. Protestant leader; b. Brooklyn, New York, July 27, 1891; d. Berlin, New Hampshire, Aug. 21, 1968. Horton graduated from Princeton University in 1912 and then studied at New College, Edinburgh; Mansfield College, Oxford; and the University of Tübingen, Germany. He received a B.D. from Hartford (Connecticut) Theological Seminary in 1915. After ordination as a Congregational minister the same year, he served as minister of First Church of Christ in Middletown, Connecticut (1915–25); Leyden Congregational Church in Brookline, Massachusetts (1925–31); and United Church of Hyde Park, Chicago (1931–38). He then became chief executive officer of the Congregational Christian Churches, serving until 1955 as minister and executive secretary of the denomination's General Council.

He led his denomination's representatives in the merger negotiations with the Evangelical and Reformed Church that resulted in formation of the United Church of Christ in 1957. The concept of the new church, along with its theology, structure, and program, was explained in The United Church of Christ, a book he published in 1962. Meanwhile, he had become dean of the Harvard Divinity School in 1955 and served in that position until 1959. He had also become prominent in the ecumenical movement, participating in the formation of the National and World Councils of Churches and holding important positions in both council, including chairmanship of the WCC's Faith and Order Commission (1957–63).

As an observer for the International Congregational Council he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council and published four volumes of sympathetic diary reports. His publications included 14 books, the last being Toward an Undivided Church (1967). By translating Karl Barth's Word of God and Word of Man in 1928 he became one of the first to introduce the Barthian theology to the English-speaking world. In 1945 he married Mildred McAfee, president of Wellesley College from 1936 to 1949 and holder of other significant posts in church and public affairs.

Bibliography: d. horton, The United Church of Christ (New York 1962); Vatican Diary, 4 v. (Philadelphia 1964–66).

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