Shepherd, Jr., (Rev.) Massey Hamilton. Papers

Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. was born in Wilmington, North Carolina on March 14, 1913. He received his B.A. in 1932, and his M.A. in 1933, both from the University of South Carolina. In 1937 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and in 1941 his B.D. from the Berkeley Divinity School. Shepherd was ordained deacon on March 5, 1941, and priest on September 17, 1941.

From 1937 until 1940, Shepherd was an instructor at the University of Chicago, and from 1940 until 1954, he was professor of church history at the Episcopal Theological School (ETS). While at ETS, he served as an assistant at St. John's Church, Roxbury, Massachusetts. He frequently taught at the Graduate School of Theology of the University of the South, serving as director from 1952 until 1970.

From 1954 until 1981, when he retired, Shepherd was professor of liturgics at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. He was president of the American Church History Society in 1949, and president of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church from 1961 until 1974. Shepherd served on numerous worship and ecumenical boards and commissions, most notably the Standing Liturgical Commission from 1947 until 1976. Of his many publications, The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary (1950) is one of the most important. He was a major architect of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.

Though he was born and raised in a racially segregated Southern state, Shepherd’s courtly manners and general humility in demeanor led him to demonstrate equanimity to all. Shepherd’s scholarship was recognized by his peers especially in the area of liturgics. His influence was wide owing to a prolific writing and speaking life. He preached at numerous congregations, diocesan conventions, clergy conferences, ordinations, and in the chapels of the seminaries where he taught. He wrote more than 80 books, innumerable chapters and articles, and published a great many prayers. He was one of the few American members of Christian churches to be invited to observe the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church in the 1960s.

Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. died in Sacramento, California on February 19, 1990, at the age of 76. His ashes were interred on Signal Mountain, Tennessee beside his beloved wife Gaby.