Rev. Dr. Plato Tracy Durham was the first Dean of the Candler School of Theology

Candler School of Theology

Candler School of Theology, Emory University, is one of 13 seminaries of the United Methodist Church. Founded in 1914, the school was named after Warren Akin Candler, a former President and Chancellor of Emory University and a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South...

 at Emory University

Emory University

Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

, serving from 1914 to 1918.

Background

Plato Tracy Durham was the son of Captain Plato Durham of North Carolina and Nora Tracy Durham Dixon, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. James Wright Tracy. Dr. Durham was the stepson of a Methodist minister and the grandchild of a Methodist minister and was well trained in the workings of the church.

Candler

Dr. Durham was selected Dean of Candler in the summer of 1914, when Chancellor Warren A. Candler convinced Emory College to begin a school of theology subsequent the loss of Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...

 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South

Methodist Episcopal Church, South

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, or Methodist Episcopal Church South, was the so-called "Southern Methodist Church" resulting from the split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church which had been brewing over several years until it came out into the open at a conference...

. Candler School of Theology opened for classes on September 23, 1914. There were immediate criticisms of the school, chiefly that the faculty was too liberal.

During the Durham administration, the dean became an integral part of the administration of the University and in fact, Chancellor Candler considered Dean Durham his closest assistant, administering the University whenever Chancellor Candler's episcopal duties pulled him away from the campus.

In 1914, Candler was housed in Wesley Memorial church. When the Druid Hills campus was opened in the fall of 1916, Dean Durham oversaw the move into the new building. The chapel in the Theology building was named after Dean Durham and is currently the reading room in Pitts Library. Under Dean Durham's guidance, the theological pattern at the school conformed to the prevailing patterns at the time, with the focus of study being on Biblical studies.

Dean Durham was an "idealist, a dreamer, and a mystic." However, he was not an administrator. Led by Professor Andrew Sledd

Andrew Sledd

Andrew Warren Sledd was an American theologian, university professor and university president. A native of Virginia, he was the son of a prominent Methodist minister, and was himself ordained as a minister after earning his bachelor's degree and master's degree...

, the faculty rose up in revolt and Dean Durham retired in November 1918.