Hollis Professor of Divinity

It was established in 1721 by Thomas Hollis, a wealthy English merchant and benefactor of the university, at a salary of £80 per year.

[6] In 2009, upon his retirement, theologian Harvey Cox restored the tradition and chose Faith, a Jersey cow[7] belonging to the Farm School[8] in Athol, Massachusetts.

The chair's first occupant, Edward Michael Wigglesworth (c. 1693–1765), had to swear allegiance to the Medulla Theologiae, a Calvinist theological manual by William Ames.

Josiah Quincy III, then-president of Harvard, refused to nominate a successor for Henry Ware, and the post was left unoccupied a second time.

[14] In the meantime, to lessen the possible charge of a "narrowly sectarian education" the chair was moved to the Divinity School,[15] which had been formed in 1816.