118 'mind, but he did not make the matter an open confession until his senior year. While attending Yale Theological Seminary, in which he enrolled after ~ ...... ..::... -..<:-"""' .,___._ - ----· his college, Torrey and some other - students attended some of the evangelistic meetings being conducted in New Haven, Connecticut, by D. L. Moody, the most renowned evangelist of that day. Soon being asked to work in the in- quiry room, R. A. Torrey had his first taste of the joy of leading someone to Christ. After being graduated from Seminary, in 1878, R. A. Torrey was ordained by the Congregational Church and pastored a church in ~arrettsville, Ohio. Realizing his need for further training, he resigned the church in 1882, and went to the University of Heidleberg, Germany, where he studied under such great theologians as Delitch, Kahnis, and Frank. Later, while doing further study in Germany at Elagen and. Leipzing, he faced the most momentous decision of his career. It had to do with the tenets of "Higher Criticism," which had beco~e popular, especially in some of the German universities. The men who taught this theory were pioneers of liberalism in the Church. Torrey's decision to reject the theory and cling to his traditional beliefs shaped his theological thinking for the remainder of his life. ' In 1886, in Chicago, Dwight L. Moody launched a series of · what he called, "Bible Institutes," which were Bible classes held in the Chicago Avenue Church, later the Moody Church, for training Christian workers. These classes which lasted for several weeks were taught by some of the leading Bible teachers and Christian workers. By 1889, the idea of this movement had crystalized in the mind of D. L. Moody, and he, interesting a number of close friends to join him, opened a training school for men and women who felt called to become lay workers and teachers. As a result, they purchased the building adjoining the Moody Church for housing ladies and another build- ing close by for the young men. This was the beginning of the Moody Bible . Institute in Chicago.
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