Editing Lloyd C. Douglas (section)

== Biography ==
Douglas was born in [[Columbia City, Indiana]]. His father was a minister and the family lived for part of Douglas's boyhood in [[Monroeville, Indiana|Monroeville]] and [[Wilmot, Indiana|Wilmot]], Indiana and [[Florence, Kentucky]]. In Florence, his father was the pastor of the Hopeful Lutheran Church.

After receiving a degree from [[Wittenberg University|Wittenberg College]] in Springfield, Ohio in 1903, Douglas was ordained in the [[Lutheran]] ministry. He served in pastorates in [[North Manchester, Indiana]], [[Lancaster, Ohio]] and [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="1910census">1910 U.S. Census; Douglas was listed as a Lutheran clergyman.</ref>  

After his ordainment, Douglas married Bessie I. Porch. They had two daughters together: Bessie J. Douglas, born about 1899, and Virginia V. Douglas, born about 1901.<ref name="1910census"/> 

From 1911 to 1915, Douglas was director of religious work at the [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign]]. For the next six years, he was minister of the First Congregational Church in [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]]. In 1920, he moved to [[Akron, Ohio]], to serve as the senior minister of the First Congregational Church of Akron until 1926. Later that year, he moved to Los Angeles for a pastorate. 

Douglas served as pastor at [[St. James United Church (Montreal)|St. James United Church]] in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]] before retiring from the pastorate to write full time. His biographer Louis Sheaffer comments that "he never stated publicly why he changed denominations."{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Douglas's first novel, ''[[Magnificent Obsession]]'', published in 1929, was an immediate success. Critics held that his type of fiction was in the tradition of the great religious writings of an earlier generation, such as ''[[Ben-Hur (novel)|Ben-Hur]]'' and ''[[Quo Vadis (novel)|Quo Vadis]]''.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} 

Douglas followed this with his novels ''Forgive Us Our Trespasses'', ''Precious Jeopardy'', ''[[Green Light (1937 film)|Green Light]]'', ''White Banners'', ''Disputed Passage'', ''Invitation to Live'', ''[[Magnificent Obsession|Doctor Hudson's Secret Journal]]'', ''[[The Robe]]'' and ''[[The Big Fisherman (book)|The Big Fisherman]]''.