Baptists in Scotland and Their Publications in the Long 20th Century

Abstract

The impression is given in studies of theological books published in Scotland in the long twentieth-century that Scottish Baptists produced few significant works of academic scholarship. There is also no indication of any significant contribution made by more popular studies in theology or in church history. There is no doubt that only a very small number of scholars from this constituency have produced notable works in the fields of biblical studies missiology or theology, though a much larger number of works were produced for the benefit of the members of Christian congregations in this country. In the field of church history, very few works were published in the first half of the twentieth century, but by contrast, an increasing number of authors contributed to a flourishing area of studies in more recent decades. However, this study seeks to demonstrate that far more books were published than had been expected, and further studies are likely to increase this total in due course. It will be argued that Scottish Baptists, therefore, made a small but also significant contribution to both academic and more popular publishing in these fields in the long twentieth century.

1. Introduction

In accounts of the history of Scottish theology in this time period, few Scottish Baptists have been listed as the authors of significant publications. George Yuille’s 1926 edited History of the Baptists in Scotland contained ‘Contributions of Scottish Baptists to Religious and General Literature’ by James Scott and A.T. Richardson. This list covered works written prior to 1926 (Yuille 1926, pp. 296–307). It is the only attempt to date to record the range of publications by Scottish Baptist authors. There are no other journal articles or book chapters published so far with which it can be compared or contrasted. This short study aims to serve as a very brief introduction to the range of writings of scholars and ministers in Scottish Baptist ranks’, covering a range of academic and more popular studies in theology and biblical studies, as well as published sermons and contributions to church history from around 1900 to the present day. The author, in addition to his own extensive collection of Scottish Baptist titles, utilised the collections of the Scottish Baptist History Archive in Glasgow and the National Library of Scotland as the basis for this study. An earlier version of it was delivered at a meeting of the Scottish Baptist History Project that resulted in feedback that highlighted some additional titles and authors that deserved inclusion. It is mainly a record of published books with only a few selected articles from academic journals or chapters in books in order to limit the scope of this study. It is far from an exhaustive account of works published, but in the absence of any previous studies since the 1926 listing of Scottish Baptist - authored publications, it makes a start in addressing this lacuna in Scottish Baptist history. It is hoped that, in the future, other scholars may produce fuller accounts of publications by Scottish Baptists, as well as similar studies of books that were published by clergy and laypeople in other Christian denominations in Scotland.

The second section of the paper will cover historical publications. It will be divided into three parts: a broad introduction to the history of this branch of the Christian Church in Scotland; other historical publications by Scottish Baptist authors; and then the contribution of four distinguished Baptist laymen. The third section covers Systematic and Historical Theology; the fourth, Biblical Studies; the fifth, Apologetics; the sixth, Devotional works and printed sermons; the seventh, Evangelism and Missiology; the eighth, Sacraments and Ecclesiology; the ninth, Pastoral care and Practical Theology; the tenth, Religious Education and Christian Discipleship; and the eleventh and final section covers some examples of titles published by Scottish Baptists whose main sphere of ministry has taken place in England. The list of published authors and titles do not all fit easily into these nominated categories, especially when some authors wrote on a variety of subjects, but setting it out in this way allows the reader to see quickly the topics of greatest interest to these particular authors.

2. Historical Publications

2.1. The History of Scottish Baptists

The story of Scottish Baptists in the twentieth century has been one of significant growth in the first half of the century, together with numerical decline, despite many creative outreach ventures, in the more than half a century since. In numerical terms, they are a relatively small branch of the Christian family—compared to Presbyterian and Roman Catholic denominations. The standard history of the collective witness of the Baptist congregations in fellowship with the Baptist Union of Scotland over the last one hundred and fifty years is Building on a Common Foundation: The Baptist Union of Scotland 1869–2019 written by Brian Talbot in time for the marking of that milestone in their history. There have been a number of earlier accounts of their history written from within this constituency. In 1926, former Baptist Union General Secretary George Yuille edited the History of the Baptists in Scotland from Pre-Reformation Times. It was the first formal book-length account of Baptist history in this country. It is an invaluable work that contains information that would be very difficult to obtain elsewhere. This can be acknowledged in relation to information about local church histories, including information about their ministers, lists of Scottish Baptist Missionaries who have served overseas, and the contribution of Scottish Baptists to religious and general literature up to the end of the first quarter of the twentieth century. The modern scholarly study of their history was launched by Derek Murray, who wrote some notable articles on their earlier history in the Baptist Quarterly, ‘Baptists in Scotland before 1869’ (BQ, 23.6 1970) and ‘The Scotch Baptist Tradition in Great Britain’ (BQ, 33.4 1989), in addition to his earlier The First 100 Years: The Baptist Union of Scotland, written as a history of its work in 1969, the centenary year. Murray includes details of the contributions of a wide variety of individuals as well as giving a very helpful account of the institutional life of the Baptist Union, together with a description of some of the controversies within their ranks, as well as highlighting some of their achievements. Murray’s work was supplemented by Donald Meek’s thorough studies of Baptists in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. His works included: ‘Evangelical Missionaries in the Early Nineteenth Century Highlands’ (Scottish Studies, 28 1987), ‘The Independent and Baptist Churches of Highland Perthshire and Strathspey’ (Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, 61 1991), and ‘Dugald Sinclair’ (Scottish Studies, 30 1991). Meek’s important contribution has ensured that the too-often marginalised figures working in more remote or rural and island settings are rightly recognised. The next major history of Scottish Baptists was edited by David Bebbington in 1988. He gathered an impressive number of contributors who took responsibility for writing the various chapters of The Baptists in Scotland: A History. In addition to chapters on earlier history, the major contribution of this work in building on Yuille’s book is in setting out clearly the development of Baptist work in the different regions of Scotland. It is a thorough and scholarly account of this subject. A final title to highlight in this brief overview of books published on their history is A Distinguished People: A Thematic Study of Aspects of the Witness of Baptists in Scotland in the Twentieth Century, edited by Brian Talbot in 2014. There was a focus on people highlighting key leaders, laymen, and women in their ranks; other chapters discussed their relationships with other Baptists and with other Christian Churches, together with studies in the charismatic renewal movement and theological developments in their ranks. The other chapters covered military chaplaincy, home mission outreach, and social action ministries they carried out. Although there are still areas of their history awaiting scholarly study, the broad parameters of their contribution to Scottish Christianity in the twentieth century have been well covered.

2.2. Other Historical Publications by Scottish Baptist Authors

There have been a number of both academic historians and others within Scottish Baptist ranks who have written notable popular historical books. There are also a good number of accounts of local church histories from short pamphlets to full-length books. There are far too many to even mention a list of these titles, but one exception must be made. Ian L.S. Balfour produced Revival in Rose Street: Charlotte Baptist Chapel, Edinburgh. 1808–2008 (2007). This magnificent 515-page work of scholarship with copious quantities of illustrations, pictures, and artwork is a remarkable achievement. In terms of the authors of historical books, it is possible only to mention a small proportion of them in this study. John Climie, a Baptist minister in the early twentieth century, wrote a number of books including John Harper: A Man of God (1912), in honour of a distinguished former Glasgow Baptist minister who died with 1502 other people when the RMS Titanic sank after colliding with an iceberg on 14 April 1912. He is, however, best known for writing a best-selling biography of William Quarrier, the Baptist layman whose work amongst the children living on the streets has been rightly acclaimed. William Quarrier The Orphan’s Friend was first published in 1902. It was enlarged for a second edition in 1905 and saw three further editions published later in the twentieth century. Climie was also the author of What Bamboozled Her!: ‘This gettin’ saved a’ at yince clean bates me’, an evangelical publication in Scots explaining a Christian understanding of faith in God, received by grace, in the form of a woman’s conversations with her neighbours and family. It is, however, in the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries that there has been a notable increase in academic historical publications from this constituency. Nick Needham, minister of the Reformed Baptist Church in Inverness, taught Systematic Theology at the Scottish Baptist College in the 1990s, after serving as the Librarian at Rutherford House in Edinburgh, before becoming the lecturer in Church History at the Highland Theological College in Dingwall. He has published a number of historical books, including: Thomas Erskine of Linlathen: His Life and Theology 1788–1837, an account of the decline in Calvinist orthodoxy in the life and publications of this influential layman, the Laird of Linlathan; The Doctrine of Scripture in the Free Church of Scotland (1991), an examination of the views of five founding leaders of this denomination; The Triumph of Grace (2004), - a study of Augustine’s writings on the doctrine of salvation; his most notable publications are the emerging multi-volume history of the Christian Church entitled 2000 Years of Christ’s Power: Vol. 1: The Age of the Early Church Fathers (2016); Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (2016); Vol. 3: Renaissance and Reformation (2016); Vol. 4: The Age of Religious Conflict (2016); and his Daily Readings—The Early Church Fathers (2017). Kenneth B.E. Roxburgh, who served as minister of three Baptist congregations in Galashiels (1978–1984), Fraserburgh (1984–1988), and Ladywell, Livingston (1988–1994), prior to his appointment as Principal of the Scottish Baptist College (1994–2002), and now a Professor in Biblical and Religious Studies at Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama, (2002 to the present), wrote Thomas Gillespie and the Origins of the Relief Church in 18th Century Scotland (1999). Christine Lumsden, a civil servant and member of Bristo Baptist Church, Edinburgh, contributed A Rich Inheritance: Sir William Sinclair and Keiss Baptist Church (2013), a study of the life, work, and hymnody of the founder of Keiss Baptist Church. Ian Birch—who has served as a minister at Baptist churches in Portsmouth (1990–1995) and St Helens (1996–2003) in England, then served at Kirkintilloch Baptist Church (2003–2007) in Scotland, prior to his appointment as a lecturer and then Principal at the Scottish Baptist College (2007—to the present wrote To Follow the Lambe Wheresoever He Goeth: The Ecclesial Polity of the English Calvinistic Baptists 1640–1660 (2017). Brian Talbot, minister at Cumbernauld Baptist Church (1992–2007) and Broughty Ferry Baptist Church (2007—to the present), wrote the biography of John Hamilton, a Scot whose Baptist pastoral ministry took place exclusively in England. It was entitled: A Man Sent From God: The Life and Ministry of John Thomas Hamilton 1916–1999 (2011). Edward Burrows, a lecturer at the Scottish Baptist College (1979–2006), wrote the biography of the former General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Scotland, Peter Barber: To Me to Live is Christ: A Biography of Peter H. Barber (2005). Barber was one of the most prominent and influential ministers in Scottish Baptist ranks until his untimely passing in 1994. Neil E. Allison, minister of Glenrothes Baptist Church (1993–1998) and Helensburgh Baptist Church (2014– to the present) has been the historian of the United Navy, Army, and Air Force Board, a body that represented serving Armed Forces chaplains from smaller Protestant denominations. He served as a British Army Chaplain from 1998 to 2014. He produced a three-volume history of the United Board: The Clash of Empires 1914–1939 (2008, revised 2014); The Clash of Ideologies 1939–1950 (2012, revised 2015); and The Age of Conflicts 1950–2014 (2018). He has also written many other works including: with Nicola A. Sherhod, Bunyan Meeting History Padre W.J. Coates Letters from the Front (2015); and with David B. Milner, T.N. Tattersall a Cotton Mill Child: A Chaplain’s Letters from the Western Front 1914–1917 (2020). The final example is Harry Sprange who has specialised in ministries working with young adults as well as pastoring congregations that include Craigmillar Baptist Church, Edinburgh (1974–1986) and Bathgate Baptist Church (2007–2017). He has focused his historical writing on the place of children in Church History. He wrote Kingdom Kids: The Story of Scotland’s Children in Revival in 1994, followed by an expanded second edition entitled: Children in Revival: 300 Years of God’s Work in Scotland (2002). Although the Baptist Union of Scotland is a relatively small network of churches, it is evident that there is a flourishing culture of research and writing on a variety of mainly Scottish historical topics.

2.3. Four Distinguished Baptist Historians

There are also four distinguished Baptist laymen who have made important contributions in their fields of historical study and also need to be highlighted. First, Deryck Lovegrove, a former lecturer in ecclesiastical history at St Andrews University (1978–2000), has written a number of historical works highlighting the importance of the Protestant dissenting tradition. These include: Established Church, Sectarian People: Itinerancy and the Transformation of English Dissent, 1780–1830 (1988) and The Rise of the Laity in Evangelical Protestantism (2002). Second, Donald E. Meek, mentioned earlier in this study, was the former Professor of Celtic Studies at Aberdeen University. His important work in early Scottish church history, The Quest for Celtic Christianity (Meek 2000), expressed serious doubts about the claimed connections between the modern revival of ‘Celtic Christianity’ and its alleged historical predecessor (Bradley 2019, pp. 262–66). It was one of very few works by Scottish Baptists that featured in The History of Scottish Theology: Volume III The Long Twentieth Century, edited by David Fergusson and Mark W. Elliott (Fergusson and Elliott 2019). Meek is the author of many books including: with Nicholas S. Robbins, The Kingdom of MacBrayne (2006), an account of the company that provides the majority of ferry services to the Scottish islands; Dugald Buchannan (1716–68) (2019), a study of one of Scotland’s important Gaelic poets; and, - in addition to histories of the Baptist witness on the island of Tiree and Mull—he edited Mind for Mission: Essays in Appreciation of the Rev. Christopher Anderson (1788–1852) (1992), the founder of Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh. Third, Brian Stanley, whose academic teaching posts included: Spurgeon’s College in London, Trinity College, in Bristol, as the Director of the Currents in World Christianity Project at the University of Cambridge (1996–2001), and, most recently as the Professor of World Christianity at Edinburgh University from 2009 until his retirement in 2021. His publications have included, firstly, The Bible and The Flag (1990), a study of Protestant missions and British Imperialism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; then a study of the mission agency of the British Baptist Unions: The History of the Baptist Missionary Society 1792–1992 (1992); he edited Christian Missions and the Enlightenment (2003), a volume that addresses the nature and extent of the influence of the European enlightenment on the Protestant missionaries that went to Asia and Africa. Missions, nationalism, and the end of empire (2003) addresses the engagement of missions with Western imperialism showing that, far from being merely an arm of the colonial authorities, mission agencies often contributed to the movements for political change and bringing an end to colonial empires in the years after World War II. In partnership with Sheridan Gilley, he edited The Cambridge History of Christianity: World Christianities, Volume 8, c.1815–c.1914 (2006); this volume is one of the first attempts to provide a global history of expressions of the Christian faith in the nineteenth century. The World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh 1910 (2009), is the major account of this influential missions conference that set the scene for the work of Protestant missionary societies in the twentieth century. The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism: the Age of Billy Graham and John Stott (2013) is the fifth in a series of five volumes that covers the main figures, movements and ideas within Evangelicalism. Stanley’s volume covers the 1940s to the 1990s. Christianity in the Twentieth Century: A World History (2018) is a remarkably comprehensive, multifaceted account of the Christian Church in its various expressions over the twentieth century. Stanley has been one of the most significant writers of his generation on the global witness of Christianity. However, the most prominent historian in Scottish Baptist ranks is undoubtedly David W. Bebbington, who has taught history at Stirling University since 1976, most recently as Professor of History since 1999 until his retirement in 2019, whose Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (1989) is undoubtedly the most influential volume on this subject, and the most referenced work on Evangelicalism in the last half-century. He has written more than twenty other books, including Patterns in History: A Christian Perspective on Historical Thought (1st ed, 1979), in which Bebbington describes and evaluates each of what he identifies as the main schools of thought about the nature and meaning of the historical process; The Nonconformist Conscience: Chapel and Politics, 1870–1914 (1982), a critical study of engagement with and the contribution to British society made by the influential major Nonconformist denominations over these years. The Mind of Gladstone: Religion, Homer and Politics (2004), one of a number of significant contributions on the life of British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone; Baptists Through the Centuries: a History of a Global People (2010), covers not only an account of Baptist history, but also addresses, for example, their contribution to a range of issues from missions to social action, the place of women in Baptist life, and the gospel and race. The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon and Moody (2012) is the third of five volumes on the history of this movement; more recently, his Victorian Religious Revivals: Culture and Piety in Local and Global Contexts (2012) sets this phenomenon in its wider social and cultural context through a series of detailed case-studies of awakenings that took place between 1841 and 1880 in Britain, North America, and Australia. In addition, his wife Eileen Bebbington has written a short but incisive biography of her husband: Faith, History and David Bebbington (2014). The scholarly contribution from these notable academics has been influential in their particular fields of historical research.

3. Systematic and Historical Theology

They have been only a few Scottish Baptists working or publishing in this field. John Thomas Forbes, a pastor in several Scottish Baptist churches as well as a lecturer in Systematic Theology at the Scottish Baptist College, published in 1905 a critically acclaimed work on Greek philosopher Socrates. It became a set text at several universities (Murray 1994, p. 43). David C. Hicks, lecturer in the Philosophy of Religion and Systematic Theology at the University of Aberdeen in the 1960s and 1970s published some articles in his field in academic journals, during his time in that post. After retirement from the university, he taught Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion at the Scottish Baptist College in the late 1980s and 1990s. The most important example to note is Stephen J. Holmes, Head of the School of Divinity and Principal of St Mary’s College at the University of St Andrews. He has published widely across the disciplines of systematic and historical theology, and in practical theology, philosophical theology, and patristics. His publications include God of Grace and God of Glory: An account of the Theology of Jonathan Edwards (2000), a study of the thought of one of the greatest American theologians; and Listening to the Past: The Place of Tradition in Theology (2002), a popular study of modern-day questions concerning God and faith considered in the light of how those issues were handled in former centuries. He also wrote Baptist Theology (2012), as an attempt to explore Baptist convictions and practices in conversation with earlier scholars within this tradition in order to articulate an understanding of both the unity and diversity of theological beliefs within their ranks. Holmes has had a particular interest in the doctrine of The Trinity. His publications on this subject include: The Holy Trinity: Understanding God’s Life (2011) which traces the debates in the Early Church prior to the formal statement of this doctrine at the Council of Nicaea in 325AD and explores the further reflection and developments of it in later centuries. This was followed by The Quest For The Trinity (2012), in which Holmes questioned whether many recent scholarly contributions on the Christian doctrine of God were in line with classic patristic, medieval, and Reformation contributions on this subject and pointed to the need for a fresh engagement with this important pillar of the Christian faith. He has also written some shorter contributions on this subject, including: ‘Classical Trinitarianism and Eternal Functional Subordination’, a chapter in Michael F. Bird and Scott Harrower (ed.), Trinity Without Hierarchy: Reclaiming Nicene Orthodoxy in Evangelical Theology (2019). The contributors in this volume were concerned that some American Evangelical theologians were allowing their views on gender relations in the church to shape inappropriately their understanding of the relations between the three persons in the Godhead, and as a result, were viewed as departing from a more traditional Christian understanding of this subject. Holmes also contributed a chapter to a work considering the 1718 Salters’ Hall debate on the Doctrine of the Trinity entitled: ‘The Doctrine of the Trinity, Then and Now: Reflecting Dogmatically on the Salters’ Hall Debates’ in Stephen Copson (ed.), Trinity, Creed and Confusion: The Salters’ Hall Debates of 1719 (2020). Holmes has also had a significant interest in the doctrine of the Atonement. His published works on this subject include: The Wondrous Cross: Atonement and Penal Substitution in the Bible and History (2007), and ‘Ransomed, Healed, Restored, Forgiven’, a chapter in Derek Tidball, David Hilborn and Justin Thacker (eds), The Atonement Debate (2008); this publication contained some papers presented at a London symposium on the Atonement in the light of a recently published volume of Steve Chalke and Alan Mann, The Lost Message of Jesus (2004) that challenged mainstream historical Evangelical understandings of this subject. The contributors to The Atonement Debate provided a fair critique of the views of Chalke and Mann. Holmes has been a major contributor to theological debates in the twenty-first century, in both a university setting in Scotland, under the auspices of the Evangelical Alliance in Great Britain, and in the wider ecumenical debates as a representative of the Baptist World Alliance, the international body with which the Baptist Union of Scotland is affiliated.

Another systematic theologian is Bruce Milne, whose pastoral ministry in Scotland began at Ladywell Baptist Church in Livingston (1970–1974), before becoming a lecturer in Christian Doctrine at Spurgeon’s College in London and then senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Vancouver, Canada, for eighteen years until his retirement in 2001. He is best known for writing his introduction to Christian Doctrine: Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian Belief, first published in 1982, with revised editions published in 1998 and 2009. His earliest publications include: We Belong Together: The Meaning of Fellowship (1978) and his introduction to eschatology, I want to know what the Bible says about the end of the world (1979). The first Bible commentary he wrote is entitled The Message of John: Here is Your King, a commentary on John’s Gospel in the ‘Bible Speaks Today’ series (1993), with a revised edition produced in 2020, together with The Message of Heaven and Hell: Grace and Destiny in the Bible Speaks Today themes series (2006). He also wrote: Dynamic Diversity: Bridging Class, Race, Age and Gender in the Church (2007) and a Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles entitled: Witnesses to Him (2010). Milne is a gifted scholar and preacher who communicated effectively through both his theological works and Bible commentaries.

Geoffrey W. Grogan (1925–2011) was an ordained Baptist minister and from 1969 to 1991 was the Principal of the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow (the college’s name was changed in 1990 to Glasgow Bible College). He was a prolific author of many theological books. His titles included: Understanding Bible Teaching: The Trinity (1978), a short popular treatment of this subject; The Christ of the Bible and of the Christian Faith (1998), a study of the person of Christ; Praise, Prayer and Prophecy: A Theology of the Book of Psalms (2001); and his final major work was The Faith Once Entrusted to the Saints (2010), a critical engagement with current debates in the Christian Church on Open Theism, the Atonement, the New Perspective on Paul and the doctrine of Scripture. He also wrote Bible commentaries on Mark: Good News from Jerusalem (2003); II Corinthians: The Glories and Responsibilities of Christian service (2007); The Psalms in the Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary series (2008); and ‘Isaiah’ in The Expositors Bible Commentary (revised ed. 2008). Grogan was undoubtedly one of the most scholarly theologians in Scottish Baptist ranks in the twentieth century. His influence on the students that passed through his college, and more widely in local churches he served as a visiting preacher and pastor, was profound in this Scottish denomination.

4. Biblical Studies

There have also only been a small number of Scottish Baptists holding posts at Scottish universities teaching biblical studies. The most prominent example has been Andrew D. Clarke, who is the ‘Continuing Ministry Development Lead’ and subsequently the ‘Leadership Development Lead’ at the Baptist Union of Scotland from 2019 to the present time. His previous appointments included serving as the Research Librarian at Tyndale House, Cambridge (1990–1995), then as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Divinity and Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen from 1995 to 2015. He was also Director and Lecturer of the Northern Hub of the Scottish Baptist College from 2019 to 2021. He has also been one of the church-planters and then active leaders in the Garioch Church, Aberdeenshire, from its beginning in 2007 to 2021. His particular research interests are in Christian leadership in the Early Christian churches of the first century AD. His publications include: (with Bruce D. Winter), One God, One Lord: Christianity in a World of Religious Pluralism (Tyndale House Studies) (1991); The Book of Acts in its Ancient Literary Setting (1993) and Seek the Welfare of the City: Christians as Benefactors and Citizens (1994). He is the sole author of three substantial monographs: Secular and Christian Leadership in Corinth: A Socio-Historical and Exegetical Study of 1 Corinthians 1–6 (1993); Serve the Community of the Church: Christians as Leaders and Ministers (First-century Christians in the Graeco-Roman world) (2000); and A Pauline Theology of Church Leadership (The Library of New Testament Studies) (2008). These studies in early Christian leadership were a significant contribution to their field and obtained favourable scholarly reviews in academic journals.

A second scholar who began lecturing and publishing in biblical studies is John Drane. He taught at both Stirling and Aberdeen Universities and was, for a number of years, a deacon at Stirling Baptist Church but later was ordained in the Episcopal Church (USA). One of his earliest academic works was Paul: Libertine or Legalist (1975), in which he explores the theology of Paul as seen in the book of Galatians and I Corinthians. He also wrote Who is Jesus, a new life of Christ (1997); and The World of the Bible looking at the social, cultural, and religious world in which the books were composed (2009); however, he is best known for two titles in particular: an Introduction to the Old Testament (4th ed. 2019) and an Introduction to the New Testament (4th ed. 2019). These volumes were well-received, going through a number of editions. Drane has also produced a large number of other works on practical theological or spirituality topics. These include: Evangelism for a New Age: Creating Churches for the Next Century (2000), a book that claims that too many churches fail to approach seekers in the way Jesus did. Drane offers, by contrast, a new approach to more creative forms of evangelism. Another title offers a critical engagement with New Age spirituality: What is the New Age Still Saying to the Church (1999). Another of his books, Cultural Change and Biblical Church (2000), was written to explore the kind of spirituality that may engage effectively with unchurched people in a time of significant cultural change. Do Christians know how to be Spiritual? (2005) is a further contribution to the same themes that were covered in his earlier works mentioned in this paragraph. His book, The McDonaldization of the Church: Consumer Culture and the Church’s Future (2012), challenges church leaders to offer more creative forms of worship and church life to appeal to post-modern people. He also co-wrote), with his wife Olive, Family Fortunes: Faith-full Caring for Today’s Families (2004), with the aim of seeking to nurture faith in the diverse forms of families found in Britain today. Drane has been a prolific writer, combining an interest in academic biblical studies as well as in a wide range of contemporary issues -in particular, mission and spirituality. Both Clarke and Drane are widely respected authors in their fields.

5. Apologetics

Jervis Coats, minister of Govan Baptist Church, wrote The Master’s Watchword: An Essay Recalling attention to some Fundamental Principles of the Christian Religion (1897). This book was a defence of its subject in response to some critical appraisals of Christianity. He received a D.D. degree from Glasgow University on the publication of this book (Murray 1994, p. 42). In the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, only a few Scottish Baptist ministers were publishing books aimed at a broader readership outside their constituency. However, the growth in numbers of members and churches at that time led to greater confidence on the part of Scottish Baptists to believe they could make a contribution to the theological debates taking place in wider Christian circles.

It is no surprise in a conservative Evangelical family of churches that there were a few apologetics volumes published in support of a high view of the authority and inspiration of the Scriptures. These writers promoted views on the Bible that would have been representative of the opinions of the majority of Scottish Baptists at that time. The first example is John Urquhart (1837–1914), who served as pastor in St Andrews Baptist Church 1865–1870; Leith Baptist Church, Edinburgh (1871–1874); Whyte’s Causeway Baptist Church Kirkcaldy (1878–1883); and North Frederick Street Baptist Church, Glasgow (1884–1885). He was a prolific writer and lecturer in the late nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth century and contributed a number of works on this theme, including The Inspiration and Accuracy of the Holy Scriptures in 1895, with a number of editions published including the third edition in 1930. His early work What Are We To Believe? Or The Testimony of Fulfilled Prophecy (1887) was based on a series of shorter papers he wrote for the Scottish Baptist Magazine and other Christian periodicals. He returned to this theme in his Wonders of Prophecy: The Testimony of Fulfilled Prediction To The Inspiration of The Bible in 1895. It went through a number of editions in subsequent years. The last one, as late as 1945, came many years after his death. He also published a series of books on biblical apologetics, entitled The New Biblical Guide, producing eight volumes between 1899 and 1904. The first seven books were a response to the claims of higher critics, with a view to demonstrating the accuracy and reliability of the Old Testament. The last volume focussed more specifically on the canon and inspiration of the Scriptures. Urquhart was an influential figure in conservative Evangelical circles, both in the United Kingdom as well as in Australia and New Zealand, where he conducted the majority of his ministry in his later years.

Another prominent contributor on this subject was Graham Scroggie (1877–1958), minister of Charlotte Baptist Chapel (1916–1933) and prominent Keswick Convention speaker, who wrote more than fifty books, including Is The Bible The Word of God? (1922); Ruling Lines of Progressive Revelation: Studies in the Unity and Harmony of the Scriptures (1957); Know Your Bible: A Brief Introduction to the Scriptures that was published in two volumes in 1940, followed a few years later by the four-volume study of the Psalms, Know Your Bible: The Psalms which was reprinted in a revised edition between 1948 and 1951; Know Your Bible: A Guide To The Gospels, which appeared in 1948; and The Unfolding Drama of Redemption, a three-volume study of the major themes of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. They were published in 1953, 1957, and posthumously in 1970. He wrote commentaries or studies on other individual books of the Bible, including A Note To A Friend (Philemon) in 1927, St John (The Gospel of John) and The Great Unveiling (Revelation) in 1930, The Land of Life and Rest (Joshua) in 1950, and Salvation and Behaviour (Romans) in 1952. These last two volumes were based on a series of messages delivered at the Keswick Convention that year. Scroggie was a committed adherent of the premillennial understanding of the end times and produced a number of titles that reflected this interest, including Prophecy and History with Reference To The Jews, The Gentiles, And The Church Of God which was published in 1915; The Lord’s Return (1939); and What About Heaven: Comfort for Christians (1940), which was written after the death of his wife Florence. A range of various devotional topics were the subject of a number of his other works, including Method in Prayer: An Exposition and Exhortation (1915) and Testing By Temptation (1924). He wrote The Fulness of the Holy Spirit, outlining his understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in 1925, but later produced another title on the Holy Spirit, with particular reference to the growing Pentecostal movement in the United Kingdom. His book The baptism of the spirit. What is it? Speaking with tongues. What saith the scriptures (1957) was a critical study of key doctrinal convictions in that movement. He also wrote a biographical account of his mother’s life in The Story of A Life In The Love Of God: Incidents Collected from the diaries of Mrs James J. Scroggie in 1938 and a study of the Keswick Movement in 1935 entitled: What meaneth this? An interpretation of the Keswick Movement. Scroggie was an influential figure not only amongst Baptists but also in the wider conservative Evangelical movement, through his prominence as a speaker at various Bible Conventions, in particular the one at Keswick in the English Lake District. Coats, Urquhart, and Scroggie were examples of Baptist preacher-scholars who had gained a hearing for their published works and an influence in the wider Christian world for their views. Their contributions by scholarship and wider preaching ministry were an illustration of the fact that Scottish Baptists in the early twentieth century had become comfortable with their place as a mainstream Protestant body in their home country.

6. Devotional Works and Printed Sermons

One name from the early twentieth century stands out due to the popularity of his works over the last century. Oswald Chambers, son of Aberdeen Baptist minister Clarence Chambers, is best known for the devotional volume My Utmost for His Highest, first published in 1927 and continuously in print to the present day. His many other works published posthumously by his wife Gertrude (Biddy) Hobbs were originally prepared as lecture notes to students in the Dunoon Baptist College, where he served as a lecturer for over nine years to 1906 and then in the Bible Training College, London, where he served as Principal from 1911 to 1915. The more than forty small books and booklets on practical and pastoral theological topics issued under his name over the twentieth century have been more recently published in a single volume, The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers, by Discovery House publishers in 2000, reflecting the continuing interest in his writings nearly a century after his death while serving in Egypt during World War One in 1917. What is clear, though, is that not many Scottish Baptists were aiming to write academic theological books for the wider scholarly community in the early twentieth century. The greater majority were producing Bible commentaries, works of apologetics, and popular devotional books for those training for pastoral ministry or for laypeople in their churches. Oswald Chambers is an excellent example of someone who had this audience in mind when as a Bible college lecturer or preacher he was writing his many lectures or talks that his wife later prepared for publication.

There were a good number of Scottish Baptist ministers who published volumes of sermons. One of the best-known contributors in the early twentieth century was Walter A. Mursell, minister of Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church in Paisley (1898–1920). He first published two volumes of spiritual addresses to young men entitled Ideal Manhood (1902) and The Waggon And The Star (1903); then, Sermons on Special Occasions Preached in Thomas Coats Memorial Church Paisley (1912), followed by two volumes of addresses preached at the beginning and the end of the First World War. The Bruising of Belgium And Other Sermons During War Time (1915) and Ports in the Storm (1919) were attempts to deliver a Christian perspective on the launch and the ending of this devastating war. Mursell was unique amongst Scottish Baptists in producing two volumes of poetry at the same time as his war sermons, Afterthoughts (1914) and Echoes of Strife (1919) which presented more clearly his personal understanding of the significance of that war. He also wrote a number of books relating to his travels in Scotland or on varied non-religious literary themes. Another example was R. Guy Ramsay (1896–1976), the minister of Hillhead Baptist Church, Glasgow (1944–1960). He was a gifted preacher who produced a number of books of his sermons. These included: Since the World Began: Characters of Yesterday and Today Studies in Genesis published in 1927, followed by The Lord’s Prayer in Modern Life (1936) and Christ’s Portrait of Christian: The Sermon on the Mount (1956). Robert J. Smithson was the minister of Jedburgh Baptist Church (1911–1914), Victoria Place Baptist Church in Glasgow (1919–1931), and Whyte’s Causeway Baptist Church in Kirkcaldy from 1931 to his retirement in 1949. He was also a scholar and preacher who published a number of books, including The Feast of Remembrance (1948), a study of biblical teaching on the Lord’s Supper; two volumes of sermons, Night Tragedies of Scriptures (1936) and Worshipping and Serving (1952); he also edited a volume on preaching entitled My Way of Preaching (1956), which included chapters from Scottish Baptist colleagues including John MacBeath, R. Guy Ramsay, and W. Graham Scroggie. However, he is best known for his historical publication on the Continental Anabaptists, entitled The Anabaptists: Their Contribution to Our Protestant Heritage (1935). These men were examples of gifted individuals that had a significant influence within Scottish Baptist ranks in the twentieth century.

John MacBeath (1880–1967) was a well-known author and conference speaker. He was the pastor of a number of Baptist churches in Scotland and England. His Scottish pastorates were first St Andrews Baptist Church (1907–1909), then Cambuslang Baptist Church (1909–1921), and later Hillhead Baptist Church (1929–1942). He was also a lecturer at the Baptist Theological College of Scotland (later called Scottish Baptist College) from 1932 to 1942 and President of the Baptist Union of Scotland from 1934 to 1935. It is unclear exactly how many books he wrote, but the total is at least thirty titles. The majority of these volumes were transcripts of sermons preached in his churches including Taken Unawares (n.d., 1920), The Second Watch (n.d. 1926), The Hills of God (1930). A Wayfarer’s Psalter on the book of Psalms (1944), In Time of Trouble on I Peter (1951), The Face of Christ (1954) - or preached at Bible Conventions such as the 1932 Keswick Convention addresses on the book of Ephesians entitled The Life of a Christian (1932). He was also a prolific speaker to and publisher of addresses given to young people. These titles included Roadmakers and Roadmenders (1927), Lamps and Lamplighters (1929), A Number of Things (1936), Lilies Among the Wheat (1940), and Voices of the Woods (1951). Most of these titles went through a number of editions. MacBeath also wrote People without a Name (1945), a study in Christian Discipleship; a popular history of the Baptist Missionary Society in 1925 entitled The Conquest of Kingdoms and The Fragrant Life, Mrs John MacBeath: Gleanings from her diaries and notes of addresses given by her at meetings in Scotland and England (1948). Although John MacBeath is rarely remembered today, he was a very popular writer and speaker in churches and other Christian events in the first half of the twentieth century.

John MacBeath’s brother, Andrew G.W. MacBeath, was the Principal of the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow from 1954 to 1969. He produced a few mainly devotional works such as The Book of Job (1966) but also published a biography of W.H. Aldis (1949), a prominent figure at the Keswick Convention held annually in the Lake District in England and a former missionary in China. However, writing and publishing books was not a prominent part of his work. George Mitchell was a prominent scholar and pastor in the second half of the twentieth century. He was appointed as a lecturer at both the Scottish Baptist College and the Bible Training Institute, teaching in these institutions over many years, as well as serving as the pastor of a number of Baptist churches. These were in Buckhaven (1965–1967), Portobello in Edinburgh (1984–1989), Harestanes in Kirkintilloch (1989–95), and, lastly, Castle Street Baptist Church in Inverness (1995–2002). Mitchell wrote a number of books on historical subjects but also produced some Bible commentaries, including Chained and Cheerful: Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (2001), and Born Free: Studies in Galatians (2007), together with Painting Pictures, Changing Lives: Some Parables and Miracles of Jesus (2008). Mitchell also wrote his best-selling autobiography, Comfy Glasgow, in 2001, and several historical works, including Guidance and Gumption: A Hundred Years and more of Inverness Baptist Church (1998); a biography of leading nineteenth-century Scottish Baptist minister Peter Grant entitled Highland Harvester in 2013; and Revival Man: The Jock Troup Story (2002), a biography of the prominent twentieth-century evangelist who played a key role in the last two religious revivals in mainland Britain in East Anglia in 1921 and in the North-East of Scotland in 1921–1922. He also penned Glasgow’s pit of despair and the brave men who died in it (2013), a study of mining disasters in the Glasgow area. Mitchell was a gifted scholar who was one of only a small number of Scottish Baptist ministers who could both read fluently and teach Biblical Hebrew and Greek, but his published works were aimed at the ordinary person in the pew. He could paint vivid word pictures and his ability with words ensured the effective communication of the points being made. William Freel, a former Baptist minister in Rattray Street Baptist Church in Dundee (1965–1969), Viewfield Baptist Church in Dunfermline (1969–1974), and Castle Street Baptist Church in Inverness (1984–1995) wrote a popular study of the book of Revelation from a dispensational premillennial perspective, entitled Survival? God’s Fabulous Future in 1976. It is unique amongst these works published by Scottish Baptist ministers in having the twenty-six messages each accompanied by plates of full-colour oil paintings, painted by Adam Russell, a deacon of the Viewfield Church and an accomplished artist. Both Mitchell and Freel concluded their pastoral ministries at the Inverness Baptist Church. They were both powerful and effective preachers who saw many people profess faith in Jesus Christ during their pastoral ministries.

7. Evangelism and Missiology

There have been a number of contributors to works on mission and evangelism. These included Edward Last who was converted in the evangelistic campaign of American Evangelist D.L. Moody in the 1870s, prior to training for pastoral ministry at Spurgeon’s College in London. He served as a pastor at Kelso Baptist Church (1888–1889), Dumbarton Baptist Church (1889–1890), and Cambridge Street Baptist Church in Glasgow (1891–1900 and 1912–1916), as well as an Evangelist for the Baptist Union of Scotland in the intervening years. He produced three titles on Evangelism. His best-known work was Hand-Gathered Fruit: Twelve Chapters on Soul-Winning (1920), which went through a number of editions in the early twentieth century. He also wrote: How the Churches Grew in the Olden Days (1932 and reprinted in 1955) and New Testament Evangelism (n.d.). A second example is Joseph Kemp (1872–1933), who was baptised by Edward Last in his Glasgow pastorate while training for ministry at the Bible Training Institute. He became the minister of Kelso Baptist Church (1897–1898), then Hawick Baptist Church (1898–1902), and Charlotte Baptist Chapel in Edinburgh (1902–1915). His best-known work was The Soul-Winner and Soul Winning (n.d), but he also produced a number of undated devotional works based on his pulpit ministry: The Book of Books and its Books; Outline Studies in the Book of Revelation and Outline Studies in the Tabernacle. His wife Winnie wrote his life story, Joseph W. Kemp: The Record of a Spirit-Filled Life (1936). The third example is Thomas McQuiston, who was the minister of a number of congregations, including Newburgh Baptist Church (1903–1909), Kirkintilloch Baptist Church (1909–1914), and Rutherglen Baptist Church (1914–1924), before becoming the Baptist Union of Scotland Evangelist from 1924 to 1931. He wrote The Ministry of the Deacon (n.d.) for the Baptist Union as well as Christian Evangelism (1926). These men were all remarkably gifted preachers and evangelists. This was undoubtedly their priority, though each also sought to write popular works to disseminate more widely the teaching they gave in local church ministries.

In the second half of the twentieth century, three individuals are particularly worthy of note who served both in pastoral ministry and were the authors of books with an apologetic or evangelistic focus. First of all, George A. Young, who had an influential evangelistic ministry with the Baptist Missionary Society in China (1924–1952). He then had a similarly effective ministry in central Glasgow at Adelaide Place Baptist Church (1952–1968). He wrote The Living Christ in Modern China near the end of his term of service in that country in 1947, a work that addressed the interaction of Christianity with other belief systems in China. He later wrote, in retirement, a more popular work, The Fish Or The Dragon (1985), addressing the contrasts between Christianity and Communism, but pointing to the effectiveness of a living Christian faith. Andrew MacRae was a minister of Baptist churches in Larbert (1957–1961) and Rattray Street, Dundee (1961–1966), prior to his appointment as the General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Scotland (1966–1980). He was later appointed as the Professor of Evangelism and Mission at Acadia Divinity College, in Nova Scotia, Canada. He was particularly interested in Evangelism, Christian Education, and the Church Growth movement during his time as the General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Scotland. He wrote Your Church Must Choose: If It Wants To Grow (1982). It was a practical guide to encourage churches to focus on effective missional engagement in their local communities. Under his leadership, Baptist Union of Scotland-affiliated churches saw some significant growth in the number of new churches planted during a time of increasing secularisation in Scotland. Another effective communicator and writer was Alastair Brown. He was the student assistant to the minister (1971–1981), before becoming the minister of Dedridge Baptist Church, Livingston (1981–1986), and then Gerrard Street Baptist Church, Aberdeen (1986–1996), prior to becoming the General Director of the Baptist Missionary Society (1996–2008). He then became the Principal at the Northern Baptist Seminary in Chicago (2008–2016). Brown wrote a book of Christian Apologetics, Near Christianity: Sorting Myth From Truth (1996), and I believe in Mission (1997). All these individuals were sought-after preachers as well as effective writers in this field.

David Smith, a well-known missiologist, has taught widely at universities and colleges in the United Kingdom, Nigeria, and the Philippines. He has been a minister of Eden Baptist Church, Cambridge, between 1965 and 1976, prior to his academic career, and a member of other Baptist churches, including, most recently, Kirkintilloch Baptist Church. His appointments include serving as the Principal and lecturer in Christian Mission at Northumbria Bible College from 1990 to 1998; as Co-Director of The Whitfield Institute, Oxford, 1999–2002; and as the Lecturer in Urban Mission and World Christianity at the International Christian College in Glasgow from 2002 to 2009. He is the author of a series of works in his specialist field, including Transforming the World? The Social Impact of British Evangelicalism (1998), which explores the impact of the social ministries carried out by Evangelicals in Britain alongside their evangelistic work. In a second work, Crying in the Wilderness: Evangelism and Mission in Today’s Culture (2000), Smith argues that the Christian Church has increasingly lost its way in the modern world and calls for a fresh look at how it engages in mission if it is to remain relevant to the pressing needs of people today. Mission After Christendom (2003) explores the contemporary crisis in how the Christian Church views its mission now that the era of Christendom has passed. Through the fresh exegesis of key biblical texts, Smith proposes a new way forward to continue this central aspect of its work and witness. Against the Stream: Christianity and Mission in an Age of Globalisation (2003) is a call for the Christian Church in its mission to be counter-cultural in seeking to address the material, economical, and spiritual challenges of the present day; Moving Towards Emmaus: Hope in a Time of Uncertainty (2007), is a dialogue between belief and unbelief using the imagery of Jesus’ conversation with two disciples on the road to Emmaus on the first Easter Sunday afternoon, as recorded in Luke chapter twenty-four, in which people who had lost hope may regain it through an encounter with Jesus. In his next book, Seeking a City With Foundations: Theology in an Urban World (2011), Smith explores the topic of urban living in the Bible, culminating in the revelation of the New Jerusalem. He views the reconciling message of the cross of Jesus as the message of hope that can be a source of transformation for both the rich and the poor in the growing cities of the world. His book The Kindness of God: Christian Witness in our troubled world (2013) was based on talks for a Christian mission conference in Jos, Nigeria, at a time of great instability and growing violence in the region. It was an attempt to chart a course for Christians to navigate a way through very difficult times that included the impact of globalisation and the indifference of much of the post-Christian West, as well as meeting the challenge of an increasingly aggressive form of Islam in countries such as Nigeria. His most recent title published in 2020 is Stumbling Toward Zion: Recovering the Biblical Tradition of Lament in the Era of World Christianity. This latest volume, written before the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world, asks challenging questions about the public expression of the Christian faith proclaimed in the Western world. Smith addresses what he views as the crisis of triumphalism in many churches, in which there is a failure to engage with the brokenness and suffering in the world today and the consequent rejection of the biblical language of lament to address it. In the field of missiology, Smith has played a prominent role in the United Kingdom and in parts of West Africa, both through his spoken lectures and published books with an influence in both his chosen academic field as well as in the wider Christian Church.

8. Sacraments and Ecclesiology

There have been a number of contributions on the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In 1900, P.W. Grant, a former paedo-baptist minister, produced a substantial book on the subject, explaining his change of convictions to a Baptist understanding of this rite. In his work Christian Baptism, The Baptism of Christians, he argued that he had no warrant for infant baptism from the Scriptures, as he could no longer see any command, direct or indirect, of Christ on this subject (Grant 1900, p. v). William Whyte’s The Lord’s Supper was published by the Baptist Union of Scotland in 1941 and commended in its foreword by Dr W. Graham Scroggie, the minister of Charlotte Chapel. It was a critique of a sacramental understanding of this ordinance and a call for a return to the simplicity of the New Testament pattern in its observance. R.E.O. White, the Scottish Baptist College Principal from 1968 to 1979, published his major scholarly work on baptism entitled The Biblical Doctrine of Initiation in 1960 (followed by his more popular version Invitation to Baptism (1962) two years later). It was a substantial book advocating for the recovery of a true apostolic sacramentalism that the author believed would rightly acknowledge what God does in baptism when the subject is a believing hearer of the gospel. It is unfortunate that the significance of this work was eclipsed by the magisterial work of English Baptist George Beasley-Murray’s Baptism in the New Testament, published only two years later in 1962. Both authors were advocating for a sacramental understanding of baptism, a perspective that was uncommon in British Baptist ranks at that time. White published a number of other works during his time as the Baptist College principal, including his A Guide to Preaching (1973) and his A Guide to Pastoral Care (1976) which both became set textbooks in colleges in the United Kingdom as well as in other parts of the English-speaking world (Murray 1994, p. 49), together with his well-received work on Christian Ethics, The Changing Continuity of Christian Ethics (1979), published shortly after his retirement from his principalship. White also wrote commentaries on a number of biblical books that were produced over his career. These included a devotional and homiletic commentary on I John: An Open Letter to Evangelicals (1964); In Him the Fulness (1973), a commentary on the book of Colossians; A Christian Handbook to the Psalms (1984), and The Indomitable Prophet: A Biographical Commentary on Jeremiah (1992). A volume of scholarly essays to honour R.E.O. White was produced, edited by Stanley E. Porter and Anthony R. Cross, entitled: Baptism, the New Testament and the Church: Historical and Contemporary Studies in Honour of R.E.O. White (1999). Grant and Whyte were effective ministers of Baptist churches but made only a modest scholarly contribution. By contrast, R.E.O. White was a much more influential figure in the second half of the century, through both his position as the Baptist College Principal and his many published works.

Andrew Rollinson, a former minister of Westgate Road Baptist Church, Newcastle (1982–1995); Morningside Baptist Church, Edinburgh (1995–2003) and St Andrews Baptist Church (2011 to his retirement in 2018), was the Baptist Union Ministry Adviser from 2003 to 2011. He made a number of notable contributions in the field of ecclesiology. He initiated an investigation into best practices for the pastoral care of congregational ministers and edited its findings in the publication: Ministry: Models of Good Practice for the Pastoral Care of Pastors (2005). He gave the Whitley Lecture in 2005 on this subject, published later that year as Liberating Ecclesiology: Setting the church free to live out its missionary nature. He also edited Transforming Leadership: essays exploring leadership in a Baptist context (2008). In 2009 he wrote: The Attentive Community: Recovering God’s Gift of Communal Discernment. It is remarkable that this work probably was the first serious theological study by one of its accredited ministers of what takes place in the Church Meeting, the ultimate decision-making body in the congregational life of Scottish Baptists.

9. Pastoral Care and Practical Theology

James Taylor, a distinguished minister with pastorates in Baptist churches in Helensburgh (1956–1960), Ayr (1960–1970), and Stirling (1970–1995), produced two thoughtful practical works. The first, Pastors under pressure (2001), related to the challenges of pastoral ministry written in light of his experience of this vocation, and then Old but not Out!: Purpose and Discipleship in Old Age (2012) a considered Christian reflection on the latter years of life. Derek B. Murray, best known as a historian of Scottish Baptists, whose works in that field have already been highlighted earlier in this study, was one of the founders of the Scottish Baptist History Project in 1980 with David W. Bebbington. He served as a lecturer at the Scottish Baptist College (1961–1966). He was the minister of Baptist pastorates in Glenburn in Paisley (1958–1961), Whyte’s Causeway in Kirkcaldy (1966–1973), and Dublin Street in Edinburgh (1973–1986) prior to his appointment as the Chaplain to St Columba’s Hospice in Edinburgh, 1986–2001. He wrote Faith in Hospices: Spiritual Care and the End of Life (2002), a study on endoflife care that was rooted in his experiences while serving in St Columba’s. He was also the author of the Scottish Baptist College Centenary History, 1894–1994 (1994). Another significant Scottish Baptist scholar to note is Marion L.S. Carson. She is currently the chaplain of the Glasgow City Mission. She has a background in psychiatric nursing and managed a hostel for patients discharged from long-term psychiatric care. She later taught New Testament studies at the International Christian College in Glasgow. Carson, who had a particular interest in working with people on the margins, was engaged in ministry amongst sex-workers through her church Queens Park Baptist Church in Glasgow. She co-wrote, with Ruth H. Robb, Working the Streets: A Handbook for Christians Involved in Outreach to Prostitutes (2003), and more recently they contributed a further study in this field: Walk Into Freedom: Christian Outreach to People Involved in Commercial Sexual Exploitation (2021). Carson also wrote The Pastoral Care of People with Mental Health Problems (2008), based on her extensive knowledge of working in this field. She also plays an important role in the European Baptist Federation’s work against human trafficking. In 2016, Carson wrote Setting the Captives Free: The Bible and Human Trafficking, a study of biblical teachings on the subject of slavery explaining how an informed theological understanding of this subject reveals that it is contrary to the intentions of a God who is loving and just. Another Scottish Baptist who made a distinguished contribution as a community campaigner and academic was Professor Bob Holman. He had been the Professor of Social Administration at the University of Bath but resigned this post to become a community activist in the city’s deprived Southdown estate. After a decade in this post in Bath, he and his family moved to the deprived Easterhouse estate in Glasgow seeking to motivate and transform that community in partnership with estate residents. He helped establish ‘Family Action in Rogerfield and Easterhouse’ to accomplish this goal. He was an active member of the Easterhouse Baptist Church during his time in Glasgow. Holman was the author of at least twenty works. His ground-breaking Trading in Children: A Study of Private Fostering (1973) was followed by Kids at the Door: a Preventative Project on a Council Estate (1981), Putting Families First: Prevention and Child Care (1988), A New Deal for Social Welfare (1993), Towards Equality: A Christian Manifesto (1997), and Faith in the Poor (1998). He was also the author of a number of biographical studies. These included Good Old George: The Life of George Lansbury (1990), the MP for Poplar in London, who modelled the kind of Christian socialism that Holman also sought to practice. Next, in 2007, F.B. Meyer: If I had a Hundred Lives, a study of one of the most prominent Baptist preachers and social reformers at the start of the twentieth century, F.B. Meyer. In 2010, he wrote: Keir Hardie Labour’s Greatest Hero, an account of the life and work of one of the pioneers of the Labour movement. His last work, Woodbine Willie: An Unsung Hero of World War One (2013), was a study of the life of the pacifist clergyman and poet and World War British Army Chaplain, Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy. Taylor and Murray have both played significant roles within the Baptist Union during their pastoral ministries, though Murray contributed more in terms of his academic work during these years. Carson, in addition to her work with Glasgow City Mission, serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the International Baptist Theological Study Centre in Amsterdam, thus continuing to make contributions in both academic and pastoral work. By contrast, although deeply involved in the life and work of Easterhouse Baptist Church, Holman focussed the greater part of his life on addressing the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people in his community and writing books that highlighted the examples of those who had engaged in similar work in earlier generations.

10. Religious Education and Christian Discipleship

In the field of school chaplaincy, Steven Younger, minister of High Blantyre Baptist Church since 1986, has been an increasingly prominent voice in the early twenty-first century. He has also been appointed to teach a module on ‘School Chaplaincy’ at the Scottish Baptist College since 2019. He has been a regular chaplaincy conference speaker in different education authorities in recent years and a co-opted member of the Church of Scotland Education Committee. Younger has published several works in this field. There are a series of model addresses for Primary Age School children in the context of Religious Observance assemblies: Words: Twenty-four ‘Time for Reflection’ events (2018); Seasons: Twenty-four ‘Time for Reflection’ events (2018); with I. Moore, ‘Time for Reflection’ Christian-themed events for Scottish Schools (2019); and Treasures: Christian TfR/Religious Observance events for Scottish Schools (2020); together with a book-length study on the opportunities for and responsibilities of a school chaplain, entitled: Time for Reflection: a Guide to School Chaplaincy and Spiritual Development (2018). Younger appears likely to play a significant role in this field of study and practice in the coming years.

Two more recent national leaders in Scottish Baptist ranks who have also published scholarly and popular works are James Gordon and Jim Purves. James M. Gordon served as the minister of Partick Baptist Church (1976–1980), Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church Paisley (1980–1984), Crown Terrace Baptist Church (1984–2001), and Stonehaven Baptist Church (2001–2002), prior to his appointment as the Principal of the Scottish Baptist College from 2002 to 2013. Gordon has written a number of books and contributed to other academic publications. In the field of spirituality, he contributed the well-received Evangelical Spirituality: From the Wesleys to John Stott (1991) and later an important biographical study, James Denny (1856–1917): An Intellectual and Contextual Biography (2006). James Purves was minister of Bristo Baptist Church, Edinburgh (1994–2011), prior to becoming Mission and Ministry Advisor of the Baptist Union for ten years until 2021. His major academic title was The Triune God and the Charismatic Movement: A Critical Appraisal of Trinitarian Theology and Charismatic Experience from a Scottish Perspective (2004). In conversation with Patristic, Reformed, and more recent models of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, Purves explored the experience of the Holy Spirit by participants in the Scottish renewal movement and concludes that in the dominant Reformed theological heritage in Scotland, the person of the Holy Spirit was acknowledged, but too often his work was subsumed under that of the Son. He also wrote a number of practical theological works, including the first major study of the Declaration of Principle of the Baptist Union of Scotland in 2018, entitled Becoming Who We Are: Re-Envisioning Christian Identity. This was followed by Experiencing Faith (2020), exploring a pathway for the making and developing of Christian Disciples, together with a shorter evangelistic work, I want to meet with God (2021). It is recognised that both these individuals have madeimportant contributions to scholarship in their published works.

11. Scottish Baptists Based in England

It is also important to mention more briefly some examples of Scottish Baptists whose main spheres of ministry have taken place in England. They include, from the beginning of the period covered, Alexander McLaren (1826–1910), whose father David was a Scotch Baptist pastor in Glasgow. He was the minister of Portland Chapel, Southampton (1846–1858), then at Union Chapel, Manchester (1858–1903), and produced many books of his printed sermons, including into the early years of the twentieth century when, in retirement from 1903 until his death in 1910, he produced his thirty-one volume Expositions of Holy Scripture that covered the majority of the biblical text. Another example is Old Testament scholar David S. Russell (1916–2010). Russell was the minister of Castlegate Baptist Church, Berwick (1939–1941); Woodstock Road Baptist Church, Oxford, (1943–1945); and Church Road Baptist Church, Acton (1945–1953); prior to his appointment as the Principal of Rawden Baptist College, Leeds (1953–1964); Joint-Principal of Northern Baptist College (1964–1967); then General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (from 1967 to his retirement in 1982). He had particular expertise in the apocalyptic literature of that era. His published works included The method & message of Jewish Apocalyptic, 200 BC–AD 100 in 1964; The Jews From Alexander to Herod (1973); and Apocalyptic Ancient and Modern (1978); together with Divine Disclosure: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic (1998). Two more recent examples are Ruth Gouldbourn, -who has served in Baptist Churches as an Associate at Bunyan Meeting in Bedford (1988–1995), Bloomsbury Central in London (2006–2018), and Cheadle Hulme (2018– to the present), as well as a tutor at Bristol Baptist College (1995–2006). She is the author of works that include Reinventing the Wheel: Women and Ministry in English Baptist Life, the 1997–1998 Whitley Lecture (1997); The Flesh and the Feminine: gender and Theology in the writings of Caspar Schwenckfeld (2007), a work that explores the gender dynamics of his distinctive theology, that also provides an explanation as to why so many women were attracted to follow his teaching; with Brian Haymes and Anthony Cross, On Being the Church: Revisioning Baptist Identity (2009); and, most recently, with Antony Cross, The Story of Bristol Baptist College: Three Hundred Years of Ministerial Formation (2022), and Douglas McBain (1933–2006), who was the minister at Devonshire Square, Stoke Newington (1957–1961); Wishaw Baptist Church (1961–1968); Lewin Road Baptist Church, Streatham (1968–1983); and General Superintendent, London Baptist Association (1989–1998). He was prominent in charismatic renewal in Scotland in the 1960s and one of the founders of the ecumenical charismatic body the Fountain Trust. He wrote two books on this subject - Discerning the Spirits: Checking for Truth in Signs and Wonders (1992), and Fire Over the Waters: Renewal Among Baptists & Others From the 1960s to the 1990s (1997). The literary contributions of these individuals were not only well-crafted works but also ones that were appreciated by their peers.

In conclusion, from a superficial reading of scholarly works such as The History of Scottish Theology Volume III The Long Twentieth Century, it appears as if few Scottish Baptist ministers or laypeople have published any significant scholarly works in the time period covered by this paper. However, it became clear in preparation for writing this study that there were far more titles published, both scholarly and others more popular in style, than had been expected. It is most likely that further research will, in time, produce a longer list of books for consideration. It appears evident that in the long twentieth century, a significant minority of Scottish Baptist ministers and laypeople were making a good contribution through their publications. This account of Baptists in Scotland and their published works is only an introductory study of their output. It provides an opportunity for other scholars to build on it by engaging in a deeper analysis of their contribution to scholarship in the long twentieth century.