Albert Cornelius Knudson (Jan. 23, 1873 – Aug. 28, 1953) was a Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 theologian in the Methodist

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

 tradition, associated with Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

 and the school of liberal theology known as Boston personalism

Personalism

Personalism is a philosophical school of thought searching to describe the uniqueness of a human person in the world of nature, specifically in relation to animals...

.

Biography

Albert Cornelius Knudson was born in Grand Meadow, Minnesota

Grand Meadow, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 945 people, 395 households, and 233 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,470.9 people per square mile . There were 407 housing units at an average density of 633.5 per square mile...

. He was the son of Rev. Asle Knudson and Susan (Fosse) Knudson. The family subsequently moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

. Rev Asle Knudson regularly traveled by train to Grand Meadow to preach in the Danish-Norwegian Methodist Church until shortly before his death in 1939.

Albert Knudson studied at the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

, Minneapolis (A.B. 1893) and Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

 (S.T.B. 1896, Ph.D. 1900). He attended Jena University and Berlin University (honorary Th.D. 1923). After teaching briefly at the University of Denver

University of Denver

The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....

,and Baker University

Baker University

Baker University is a private, residential university located in Baldwin City, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest university in Kansas and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Baker University is made up of four schools...

, Baldwin City, Kansas

Baldwin City, Kansas

Baldwin City is a city in Douglas County, Kansas, United States about south of Lawrence and west of Gardner. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,515. It is part of the Lawrence, Kansas Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, and at Allegheny College

Allegheny College

Allegheny College is a private liberal arts college located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the town of Meadville. Founded in 1815, the college has about 2,100 undergraduate students.-Early history:...

, Meadville, Pennsylvania

Meadville, Pennsylvania

Meadville is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city is generally considered part of the Pittsburgh Tri-State and is within 40 miles of Erie, Pennsylvania. It was the first permanent settlement in northwest Pennsylvania...

, he began his long career in Boston University School of Theology

Boston University School of Theology

Boston University School of Theology is the oldest theological seminary of American Methodism and the founding school of Boston University, the largest private research university in New England. It is one of thirteen theological schools maintained by the United Methodist Church...

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Personal life

Albert Knudson was married to Mathilde Johnson (1872-1948) in 1899. He died on August 28, 1953 at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

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Selected works

• Present Tendencies in Religious Thought (1924)
• The Philosophy of Personalism: A Study in the Metaphysics of Religion (1927)
• The Beacon Lights of Prophecy: An Interpretation of Amos Hosea, Isiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Deutero-Isiah (1929)
• The Doctrine of God (1930)
• The Doctrine of Redemption (1933)
• The Validity of Religious Experience (The Fondren lectures) (1937)
• The Principles of Christian Ethics (1943)
• Personalism in Theology with Edgar Sheffield Brightman (1943)
• Basic Issues in Christian Thought (1950)

External links

• How to Dismantle the Wesleyan Quadrilateral: A Study in the Thought of Albert C. Knudson by William J. Abraham