Irving Francis Wood

Who was Irving Francis Wood?

Irving Francis Wood, Ph. D. was an American biblical scholar.

Professor Wood was born at Walton, New York. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1885 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and taught at Jaffna College, Ceylon, until 1889. Wood then studied for his Bachelor of Divinity degree at Yale and completed it in 1892, the same year he met and married his wife, Katherine Hastings. Katherine bore him two children, Constance and Edna, who both went to get collegiate degrees. He taught for a short time at the University of Chicago before taking a job as a professor of Biblical literature and comparative religion at Smith College in 1893. He went continuously studied and received a Ph. D. from the University of Chicago in 1903 and a D.D. from Hamilton College in 1915. He requisitioned a leave of absence from Smith College for year's time to serve as a visiting professor in Ginling College, Nanjing, China. Wood had served on Ginling's Board of Founders for an extensive period of time. During this period he also taught at Doshisa University in Japan. He retired from Smith College in 1930 and took trips back to China to guest lecture at Ginling and visit his daughter, who was a missionary. He died in Washington D.C. in 1934.