Latourette was born in Oregon City, Oregon, the son of DeWitt Clinton Latourette and Ella (Scott) Latourette. His mother and father both attended Pacific UniversityinForest Grove, Oregon, where they graduated in 1878. DeWitt Clinton Latourette worked as a lawyer in Oregon City.
As he began his recovery, Latourette joined the faculty at Reed CollegeinPortland, Oregon; and from 1914 through 1916, he was a professor of history at Reed.[5] In 1916, he accepted a position at Denison University, an institution with Baptist affiliations, in Granville, Ohio. [6] His time at Denison lasted from 1916 through 1921.[5] In 1918, while at Denison, Latourette was ordained as a Baptist minister.[3]
Latourette joined the faculty of the Yale Divinity School in 1921. Latourette lived in a college dormitory suite during his time at Yale. He welcomed student groups to meet in the living room and was known as "Uncle Ken." [6] He accepted appointment as the D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity (1921–1949), and he was later made the Sterling Professor of Missions and Oriental History (1949–1953).[5] In 1938, he was named Chairman of the Department of Religion at Yale. He took on greater responsibilities in 1946 as Director of Graduate Studies at the Yale Divinity School.[3] From his retirement in 1953 until his death in 1968, he was Sterling Professor Emeritus at the Divinity School.
Latourette was killed at age 84 when an automobile accidentally hit him in front of his family home in Oregon City, Oregon.[5]
At the Yale Divinity School, the "Latourette Initiative" is a proactive program to preserve and provide access to the documentation of world Christianity. It provides funding for the microfilming of published and archival resources documenting the history of Christian missions and Christian life.
Latourette was the author of over 80 books on Christianity, Oriental history and customs, and theological subjects.[3]
He also wrote and spoke out about issues of his time, as for example, when he warned his fellow Americans in 1943 about the unwanted consequences of revenge after Japan should eventually lose the war they started with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.[10] In addition, Latourette later wrote extensively on China.
The single work for which Latourette is most remembered is the seven-volume "A History of the Expansion of Christianity".[11] Latourette noted within Volume 4 that only 5% of Americans in 1790 had formal ties to churches or synagogues.
Latourette's papers are archived in the Divinity Library Special Collections of the Yale University Library.
——— (1969), Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, vol. I: The Nineteenth Century in Europe: Background and the Roman Catholic Phase, Happer&Brothers.
——— (1959), Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, vol. II: The Nineteenth Century in Europe: The Protestant and Eastern Churches.
——— (1969), Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, vol. III: The Nineteenth Century Outside Europe: The Americas, the Pacific, Asia and Africa, Harper & Brothers. online
——— (1958), Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, vol. IV: The Twentieth Century in Europe: The Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Churches.
——— (1962), Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, vol. V: The Twentieth Century Outside Europe: The Americas, the Pacific, Asia, and Africa: The Emerging World Christian Community.
Speck, William Allen (1965), The Role of the Christian Historian in the Twentieth Century as Seen in the Writings of Kenneth Scott Latourette, Christopher Dawson, and Herbert Butterfield.
——— (1975), "Kenneth Scott Latourette's Vocation as Christian Historian", in Marsden, George; Roberts, Frank (eds.), A Christian View of History?, pp. 119–137.
Wood, James Edward (1969), Kenneth Scott Latourette (1884–1968): Historian, Ecumenicist, and Friend.
