ALEXANDER, ARCHIBALD. - American Presbyterian theologian, b. at Augusta (now Rockbridge) on 17 April 1772, d. at Princeton (New Jersey) on 22 October 1851. Shaken out of his indifference by the revival of 1789, he devoted himself to sacred studies and became president of Hampden-Sidney College. He organized the «Theological Seminary» at Princeton (1812), where he taught for many years.
Besides the important apologetic work Outlines of the Evidence of the Christianity (Princeton 1823), translated into many languages and often reprinted, and the posthumous Moral Science (1852), he published (in Philadelphia): Canon of the Old and New Testament (1826), History of the Patriarchs (1833), History of the Israelitish Nation (posthumous, 1853). His Bible Dictionary (ed. American Sunday School Union, 1831) enjoyed very wide circulation.