The Movie of 1955

After her husband suffered a fatal heart attack, Catherine Marshall wrote a bestselling book about his life that was later turned into a film. Today, Stephen Nichols recounts Peter Marshall’s days of faithful service to the Lord.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. In 1955, the movie that everyone was talking about was A Man Called Peter. It told the story of Peter Marshall, and it was based on the bestselling book of the same title. The book was written by his wife, Catherine Marshall in 1951. It stayed on the nonfiction bestseller list for three years, and then came the movie. It was actually Catherine Marshall’s second book. The first book was a book of sermons that she edited, 12 sermons of her husband’s and 13 prayers, and it was published in 1949, and it was a bestseller. Catherine Marshall would go on to write more books. She wrote the novel Christy in 1967, and it also would be made into a movie, but back to A Man Called Peter. The book and the movie recalls the life of Peter Marshall. He was born in Scotland in 1902.

As a boy, he would read the Bible for his blind grandmother, and at 14 years of age, he tried to join the British Navy. His life’s ambition was to go to sea, but the Navy would not let him in. He was just a little too young. So he took a job and started studying mechanical engineering. He tried again numerous times to join the Navy, but was never successful. And at the age of 23, he felt called to enter the ministry and specifically, to go minister in America. After a brief time in New Jersey, he was in Birmingham, Alabama at Old First Presbyterian Church. He was taken under care of the Presbytery. He went to Columbia Seminary then in Decatur, Georgia. Once he graduated, he took his first church in Covington, Georgia, and then accepted a call at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. It was said of Peter’s ministry that he came into the church in a state of almost closing, and he left it with “bulging walls and a sagging balcony.”

It was there that he met Catherine. When she first met him, she wrote a letter to her parents and she wrote, “He’s only 31, and he’s had just four years’ experience. But believe me, he is something already. I’ve never heard such prayers in my life. It’s as if when he prays, there is a connected line between you and God.” They married in 1936, and in that same year they moved to Washington DC and to a new pastoral call at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. The church was just two blocks away from the White House and a generous mile’s walk from the US Capitol there. In that church, Peter Marshall preached and prayed. It was said of his preaching by Catherine that “while most preachers seek to develop an idea or to put forth an argument in a sermon, he painted a picture. He wanted people to see Jesus, to meet Jesus.”

In fact, the title of that first book of sermons of his was Mr. Jones Meet the Master. His aim in preaching was for the common man, Mr. Jones, to see Christ. Well, in 1947, Peter Marshall was appointed chaplain of the US Senate. His prayers to open Senate sessions were often published and talked about. One reporter said, “The prayers attracted national attention,” adding, “Even the senators are now listening to the prayers that open their sessions.” Peter Marshall once prayed, “When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds, and remind us that diamonds are made under pressure.” Well, the Marshalls had their share of difficulties.

From 1943 to 1945, Catherine was bedridden due to suffering from tuberculosis, and in the next year, 1946, Peter had a heart attack while he was in the pulpit and collapsed. 1949, he had another heart attack, and he died, leaving Catherine a widow. Well, another quote of Peter Marshall’s is this, “The measure of a life is not its duration, but its donation.” And that’s the story behind the movie everybody was talking about in 1955. Catherine Marshall would go on to write more books, as we said. She would also go on to remarry a publisher, and she and her husband would start a new publishing house, Chosen Books. And so that’s the life of Catherine Marshall. And I’m Steve Nichols, and thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History.