C, I. Scofield

 By Glenn R. Goss, Th. D.

Retired Professor of Bible

Philadelphia Biblical University
glengos@aol.com

 "Reference Bibles," now generally called "Study Bibles" were rare in 1910. There are four published by that date that are still in print, The Newberry Reference Bible (1893), The Thompson Chain- Reference Bible (1908), The Scofield Reference Bible (1909), and The Companion Bible (1910). Oxford University Press released The Scofield Reference Bible in January, 1909, it was revised by Scofield and his team of consultants as the New and Improved Edition in 1917, and again in 1967 by a team appointed by Oxford University Press. Through the rest of the 20th century, over 100 more have left the presses, the majority of them in the last third of the century.

Now, over 90 years later, the 1909 edition is published by Barbour Publishing, Inc. as The King James Study Bible, Reference Edition, and also by World Publishers as The First Scofield Study Bible. The 1917 edition is still being printed by Oxford University Press, titled The Old Scofield Study Bible, and also by the Christian Heritage Publishing Company, titled as The Holy Bible, 1917 Scofield Reference Edition. The 1967 edition, published by Oxford, is titled The New Scofield Study Bible (KJV) and The NIV Scofield Study Bible. The first million copies were printed by 1930, and the second million by the early 1940's. A recently published article on the Scofield Bible noted that Oxford University Press has published tens of millions of copies of the Scofield. And, the Scofield is now printed in at least seven languages other than English.

 

Cyrus Ingerson Scofield was born in Michigan in 1843. When the Civil war began, he was in Tennessee with his sister. While there, he enlisted in the Confederate army. Military records show he fought in the Confederate Army for over a year in 1861-1862, then was discharged by reason of not being a citizen of the Confederate States, but an alien friend. Scofield told his biographer Charles Trumbull that he served through the war, and that he was awarded the Confederate Cross of Honor. After the war, Scofield located in St. Louis, married, and had a family of two daughters and a son. His wife was from a French Catholic family, and she and her daughters remained in that church till their deaths. His son died as a young boy. He worked in the law firm of his brother-in-law, read and studied to be admitted to the bar. In 1869 he and his family moved to Kansas, where he was admitted to the bar to practice law. He was elected twice to the Kansas legislature, in 1871 and in 1872. President Grant appointed him as the United States District Attorney of Kansas June 9, 1873. He resigned December 20, 1873, amid charges of political corruption. That ended Scofield's political career.

 

He probably moved his family back to St. Louis, for his son Guy died in December, 1874, and was buried in St. Louis. Also, an obituary of Mrs. Leontine Cere Scofield (copy from a newspaper but without name of paper or date) notes, "Returning to St. Louis, Mrs. Scofield came again to Atchison in 1879 and spent the remainder of her 88 years here." But by 1879 Scofield's life had deteriorated to the extent that he drank heavily and was involved in several questionable court cases. Mrs. Scofield filed for divorce in 1881, but that case was dismissed. A second filing of the case resulted in a divorce decree in 1883. These and other legal actions involving Scofield, and several notations in city directories, provide some of the only evidence about him during the time from 1873 to 1879.

 

A published account of Scofield's life in can be found in The Life Story of C. I. Scofield by Charles Gallaudet Trumbull, published by Oxford University Press in 1920 (a reprint of this very complimentary biography is now published by the Christian Book Gallery, St. John, IN.). An unpublished Mast er Thesis, "A Biographical Sketch of C. I. Scofield" was written by William A. BeVier at Southern Methodist University in 1960. This work includes more research, but is not complete, though it is positive concerning Scofield's work and ministry. Joseph M. Canfield wrote and published The Incredible Scofield and His Book in 1988. This book is very critical of both Scofield's theology and personal life. Due to the lack of existing records, and the lack of information in records that do exist, both BeVier's and Canfield's works must make many assumptions as they write. Most of Trumbull 's information came directly from Scofield himself. But even Trumbull passes over the period of 1873 to 1879 with nothing more than a reference to Scofield's habit of drinking. The best short article on Scofield, and the most accurate, is "Scofield, Cyrus Ingerson" by Dr. John Hannah in American National Biography, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, Vol. 19, pp. 480-481. Though the life of Scofield is peppered with times when little or no information is available, one thing is clear. A change was needed in Scofield's life. Canfield, BeVier and Trumbull agree that Scofield experienced a "conversion." Canfield questions if it was real. But all recognized that Scofield needed a change in his life. And, God had prepared a man to meet that need.

 

Enter Thomas McPheeters, a Christian businessman who knew and served the Lord. He bluntly asked Scofield one day in September, 1879, why he was not a Christian. The following discussion brought conviction, repentance, and a change of heart. Scofield was born again! He began to learn about, live for, and serve his new-found Lord. He lost his desire for alcohol completely. Also, he spent much time with Dr. James H. Brooks, a prominent pastor and Bible teacher in St. Louis. He served the YMCA, joined the Pilgrim Congregational Church, and was licensed to preach by the Congregational churches of St. Louis.

 

In 1882 Scofield was asked to move to Dallas, Texas, and take charge of a struggling Congregational mission church that had twelve members. After some time, he consented, and arrived in Dallas Saturday, August 19. He preached morning and evening the next day. That evening two of them accepted Scofield's invitation to believe in Christ as Savior. He began cottage prayer meetings, led the church to adopt a constitution and bylaws, and was called as the full time pastor and ordained in 1883. He married Miss Hettie Hall Wartz in 1884, and the church sent Miss Eva Smith, its first missionary, to India in 1885. The Scofields' only child, Noel Paul, was born December 22, 1888. In 1889 a new building was begun at Bryan and Harwood, to seat 600. A mission church later called Grand Avenue Congregational church, was begun in South Dallas in 1890. Scofield led a group to start the Central American Mission (now CAM International) that same year. Church membership was noted as 355 in 1892, 550 in 1894, and 812 in 1896.

 

In 1896 Scofield accepted a call to pastor the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Northfield, Massachusetts, D. L. Moody's home church. He remained there until 1902 when he returned to Dallas hoping for more free time to work on the Reference Bible. In 1908, the church withdrew from the Lone Star Congregational Association, and in 1909, following his resignation as pastor, Scofield was appointed Pastor Emeritus. The church name was changed in 1923, two years after Scofield's death, when the congregation approved a change of name to Scofield Memorial Church.

 

The Reference Bible was not his first work. Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth was published in 1888. In 1890 came the Scofield Correspondence Course, which in 1914 was turned over to Moody Bible Institute. (As of 1998, over 100,000 students have been enrolled in that program.)

Scofield had been thinking about a project like the Reference Bible, and the plans came to light in 1901 at a summer Bible conference in which Scofield and A. C. Gaebelein were ministering. Scofield told Gaebelein his plans, but noted that financial backing was the main drawback. The next year at the conference Gaebelein sought and gained sufficient support for Scofield to move ahead with his plan, and Scofield returned to his pastorate in Dallas with the desire to begin. The Reference Bible could not be too bulky, but it had to include the tools to Bible study along with a clear summary of the Bible so that it would meet the need of someone who was just beginning to read the Bible. He determined to find and state exactly what the Bible itself had to say and not to add philosophical or denominational distinctions. This would provide a wider acceptance and usage.

 

Scofield planned to trace key subjects and teachings through the Bible with chain references. Each Bible book was to have a simple, clear introduction. Adding paragraph headings was suggested by Dr. R. A. Torrey. From his experience in teaching the Bible in both oral and written form, he desired to include helps where readers might have questions, though constantly refusing to allow the notes to become commentary on the text.

 

Scofield and his wife went abroad several times to work on the notes for the Bible. In England he visited his friend Mr. Robert Scott of Morgan and Scott, publishers of religious books. When Scott learned of Scofield's project, he introduced Scofield to Henry Frowde, the head of Oxford

 

University Press. Trumbull notes that Frowde was very interested and positive about publishing the Reference Bible. While in Europe, wide-margin notebooks were prepared, each large page having a page from the Bible pasted in the center. On these pages the Reference Bible took shape.

 

The Scofields' study trips took them to Oxford, England, where time was spent at Oxford University conferring with other scholars and continuing the work on the notes and references. They also spent time in Montreux, Switzerland, and in Michigan and New Hampshire continuing the work. By 1908 the Scofields were in New York City, proofreading the printer's proofs. Publication followed in early 1909.

 

An original 1909 copy is very difficult to find today. However, there are at least three different printings of the 1909 that can be identified. In 1986 the Barbour Company reprinted the 1909 edition. As far as can be determined, it is a copy of the first printing. The two later printings of the 1909 contain corrections and other changes. Evangelical Word (Wheaton) also published in 1987 a translation of the 1909 notes in a Russian Bible. As of 1993, nearly half a million of these had been printed for distribution in Russia.

 

The "New and Improved Edition" was published in 1917. This edition, completely reset with a more readable type face included dates at the top of the