Crapsey, Algernon Sidney

(June 28, 1847-Dec. 31, 1927). Priest deposed for heresy. He was born in Fairmount, Ohio. He studied at St. Stephen's College (now Bard College) from 1867 to 1869 and received a B.D. from the General Theological Seminary in 1872. He was ordained deacon on June 30, 1872 and priest on Oct. 5, 1873. Crapsey served as assistant minister at St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Church, New York City. In 1879 he was called as rector of St. Andrew's Church, Rochester, New York, a position he held for the next twenty-eight years. Crapsey was a colleague of Social Gospel theologian Walter Rauschenbusch. In 1905 Crapsey published a series of lectures entitled Religion and Politics. In this book he advocated that the church become involved in social reform. He also argued for the reinterpretation of traditional doctrines such as the Trinity and the Virgin Birth. Crapsey was tried for heresy. He was convicted and deposed by William Walker, Bishop of Western New York, on Dec. 4, 1906. Crapsey continued to write and lecture on his religious ideas for the next two decades. He died in Rochester, New York.