Prof Dr Héctor Jorge Padrón
3. EL RETO DEL POSTHUMANISMO
2. J •Fleishmans op.cit., pp. 5$ and 6?. s 5. for a further discussion of this question see page !
Prom the Middle Party sprang another small and
brilliant group of ministex’s who helped to revive the fortunes of the Established Church* Px»eminent among them
.'Wr.a
such celebrated younger Churchmen as Dr*Norman Macleod, minister of the Barony Parish, Glasgow; the Rev* Professor James Robertson* of the Chair of Chur ch History at Edixxburgh University; Principal John Ouird, Professor of Divinity and Principal of Glasgow University, and one of Scotland5 s most notable preachers, whose sexwm Beligfon in Commoxi..,.Lifb > preached before
Queen Victoria at Orathie, was published by royal
command; Principal John Tulloch, of Bt. lary5s College, St* Andrews-; the Rev* Robert Lee, Minister of Old
Greyfriars* Church, Edinburgh; Professor William Milligan, of the Chair of Biblical Gx’iticisin at Aberdeen University; the .Rev* Dr. A* K. H* Boyd, and Principal Herbert Story
of Glasgow University.
This "Broad Church** group was a product of the times* By 1850 Scotland was in the throes of an intellectual and
spiritual awakening. The construction of the railway system linking London and Edinburgh facilitated communi cation between the two centres and broke down the barriers
of nationalism and isolation* Scotsmen found them selves introduced to a wider social and intellectual life* Tennyaoxi, Carlyle, Browning, Buskin, Mokena, Thackeray and George ll\iot\^ became literary idols north ad well as south of the Border* The Idealist philosophy of Eant, Shelling and Hegel wan read and discussed in Scottish University circles* Hew vistas of life and manners were opened up in Scotland, in
which the severities of Calvinism and the narrow
bigotries and rivaix*ies of divided Presbyterianism were matters of indifference*
The publication of Darwin8 s Theory of ‘Evolution in 1859 received much attention, for it was thought by
many to undermine the postulates of Christianity, and
thus a beginning was made by the Church in the problems of the relationships between science and religion*
But without doubt the most far reaching coutiribu-* tion to nineteenth century Scottish theology was that
of John Maolend Campbell in his book The, Mature .of. the Atonement* The Broad Church group found in this work the inspiration of much of their thought and teaching *
"The narrow, exclusive, hard hyper-OaXvlnistic schools
repel me", wrote Borman Macleod, "and make me nervously
55 "The awful conviction is deeply pressing
1. D*Macleods Bife of Mormon Mac food« D*P
’’that the Gospel is not preached in Scotland? that the Marne of God, fether, Bon and Spirit, which is Love, is not .revealed hut concealed? that it io not a Gospel of gladness, but of lamentation and woe? that it is not a
1 Gospel of goodwill to man, but to a favoured few*.
The group came to realise also the merits of the method of Biblical Criticism which was beginning to challenge the traditional fundamentalism then in
possession of Scottish theology, They saw that, in an age given over to research and discovery in every field of learning, when new light was being shed on the history and meaning of Holy Scripture and the old ideas of ver bal inspiration were being superseded, to insist on out moded doctrinal tenets would injure the cause of truth
and bring discredit upon the Christian religion. Hence they came to replace the old emphatic dogmatism by a
jpirit of reverent enquiry*
XV.
Two members of the Broad Church group merit special
mention for their notable contribution to the revival of the fortunes of the Established Church* .
87, Jaroen B<?.bnrt«Qn,.(1802-188QL>. •
When Dr. Chalmers threw in hie lot with the Free Church in 1845 the Established Church lost it a most
ardent advocate and architect of Church Extension, a work to which he had given the best yearn of his life* That this cause continued to prosper despite his
defection is largely due to the exertions of Pi?ofeesor James Robertson, whom the Church called to the convener-
ship of its Endowment Committee in 1846.
■ Chalmers had striven, with no small success, to supply more churches for the increasing population of Scotland, particularly in crowded urban areas. Bo less than two hundred chapels had been built in the years
immediately preceding the Disruption. But when, after a lengthy law-suit opposing the claim of the Et?ee Church to those buildings, the Established Church gained
possession of them, the problem of their endowment still remained unsolved. 0halmex< had unsuccessfully solicited GfOverment aid. The depleted and dispir-ibea Established Church in the years following 1845 found itself faced
with the gigantic task of meeting this urgent necessity of endowment of chapels through the voluntary offerings of the people. -James Robertson rose amongst what seemed the ruins of his beloved Church and ployed a hero*s part
Robertson was born at Jlitsligo, Aberdeenshire in 1803» and after his education in Arts and Divinity at Aberdeen. University 9 where he matriculated in 1815 ♦ he returned to his native parish as schoolmaster, with the
status of a licentiate of the Church* Xn 1829, at the early age of 28, he was appointed headmaster of Robert Gordon? e Hospital - .now Gordon* s College - Aberdeen,
and in 1838, through the good offices of the Duke of Gordon, to whose family he acted as tutor, he was pre**
seated to the parish of Ellon. Xt was during his ministry there that he became an authority on Church
law and prominent as a leading debatex* in the General Assembly during the $en Xeax’s® Conflict. Chalmers described his reply to Cunningham in the Sfrathbogie debate of 1841 ”as the greatest display of intellectual
i
gladiatorship he had ever aeen".~ tet his oratorical prominence was won despite a heavy, ponderous, style and
a harsh voice that never lost its Aberdeen cadences.
While in. Ellon, Robexdison fell under the spell of
Chalmers - a spell that remained potent throughout life and gave him a lasting enthusiasm for the work of Church Extension.
1. G .Wilsons n James Robertson” in gopttish ...Biyines T
Robertson* s greatest years began when he was
appointed to the Chair of Divinity and Church History in the University of Edinburgh a few months after the Disruption, for during this period he was called to
serve the Church as convener of the Endowment Committee. Hew churches were still needed in many areas. An Act
of Parliament had to be sought to facilitate the erec tion of parishes quoad sacra, "the inertia of a too drowsy people and a too indifferent ministry had to be
1
overcome", and sectarian jealousy and opposition constantly contended with. Yet with dauntless courage Robertson undertook the gigantic task of raising the sum of £600,000 for the work of further Church Extension and Endowment.
The cause to which Robertson devoted the last years of his life prospered greatly, and at the 1860 General Assembly - his last - he was able to report that since the Disruption sixty new churches had been built and half a million pounds raised for Church Extension and Endow ment, He died of overwork, but not before "he had raised the Church from what many thought her ruin to a
vigour and. influence which made self-respect reasonable"/' "If the Church of Scotland", remarks Campbell, "recovered
1, C.Wilsons op.cit,, p.359.
2. G,Wilsons op.cit. p„541. '
quickly from the Disruption, it wae due in great ■ I
measure 1;o the work of Bofoerbwn”.
Dorman Macleod.(1612-1872,),,
Except in his capacity for hard v?ork - Professor Plint said of him that "the amount of work he ordinarily got through in a day, when minister of the Barony, was almost superhuman"2 lioi’iaan Macleod bore little resem blance to Professor James Robertson. Robertson was grave and deliberative in speech and demeanour} the
younger man gave the impression of sparkling spontaneity and overflowing vitality. But Macleod never failed to acknowledge his indebtedness to Robertson. "He
believed in him, leaned on him and loved him till death removed him. In the days that succeeded the Disruption the minister of Dalkeith (Macleod) brooded in downhearted ness over the state of the weakened Church} but his fear passed away, his great energies were quickened, his
eloquence thrilled with hope, an he saw Dr. Robertson bend his strength to' raise again the standard of the
Scottish Establishment. In Dr. Macleod*s brilliant life there is not a little of the healthy flavour of
Dr. Robertson”.
1. A.J.Campbells Two Centuries of the Church of „ „ Scotland. 1707-1929. p.296.
2. B.Plint s "iiorman Macleod” in Scottish Divines. , Giles’ lectures, Third Series, p.4’57. 3. G.Wilsons op.cit., p.jAg.
91.
Macleod’s other abiding loyalty, as with most of the other members of the Broad Church group, was to the
doctrinal teaching of John Hacleod Campbell.
Born in 1812, son of the Reverend Norman Macleod,
one of the ministers of Campbeltown and afterwards of Compels and St. Golumba’s, Glasgow, young Norman spent many of his schooldays in Morverjn, his grandfather’s
parish. There he imbibed a lasting love for the Gaelic language, literature, and song and the open-air pursuits
of a Highland sportsman. . ; .
At the completion of his university career at
Glasgow, Dr. Thomas Chalmers recoiamended Macleod to the patron of the vacant parish of Loudon. from 1855 to
1845 he ministered there to a mixed congregation of
landed proprietors, “Chartist" weavers, and numerous families of old Covenanting stock. Then followed seven
years as minister of Dalkeith, during which he became
increasingly aware of the magnitude of the social prob lems affecting Scottish urban areas, especially those of pauperism and destitution, drunkenness, and irroligion.
In 1851 Macleod was translated to the charge which was to be linked with his name for the remainder of his
life. It was as "Horman Macleod of the Barony" that he was everywhere known. His brilliant gifts as a preacher, his ability as an administrator and, most of all, the
love end affection he evoked from hie parishioners in the squalid and crowded tenements around hie church, made hie name a household word in Scotland, and marked him out as the undisputed leader of the brilliant group
of younger ministers in the Established Church who were intent on revitalising her life end witness, Macleod’s ministry gave the Church a new pattern of pastoral
method. Here was a new type of minister, far removed from the old and rather somnolent “Moderate” school of Scottish clergy - a minister aflame with religious con viction, with a burning zeal not only for the spiritual welfare of his parishioners, but passionately concerned
about their living conditions and working environment. He instituted evening services, then a novelty, to which admission was given only to those in working garb, and thus brought into the worship of the Church many of those who had no ’’Sunday clothes” to wear at the more decorous morning or afternoon services.
The most permanent of Macleod’s labours, however, was his herculean work for the foreign Mission enterprise
of the Church, As a consequence of the Disruption, missionary activity had been heavily curtailed. In India the missionaries had seceded in a body, To a Church beset with so many problems at home, the resusci tation of missionary work seemed a task beyond her powers
Bub pessimism was forced, into retreat <ufing Macleod* s convenership of the foreign Mission Committee, In successive General Assemblies he was able to submit such encouraging reports of missionary activity and expansion as to give the Church new heart and hope. At his death in 1882 the Church could proudly claim that she had vigorous and. highly successful agencies at work not only in India, but in China, Central Africa,
and amongst the Jews.
. let another fine achievement was his magazine GOOD WORDS * Begun in I860, it enjoyed a tremendous vogue, for Macleod was able to enlist the services of
many of the most popular writers of the day - poetry by George MacDonald, Alexander Smith, dean Ingelov/s fiction
by. Anthony Trollope: scientific articles by such men as Brewster, Geikie, and Herschel. Presbyterian, Anglican and nonconformist divines gladly contributed to the new periodical, which gave to Scotland a new standard of
’’Sunday reading”.
As a royal chaplain, Macleod was a frequent guest at Balmoral and was honoured by the Queen1 s friendship and confidence.
He was accorded the biggest funeral ever seen in Glasgow: and as the cortege passed through the densely-
had done so much to infuse with new life and prestige the Church of his fathers.
V
The Emergonce of the High ..Church Group •
This small but influential group was not, of
course.j allowed to work undisturbed. Keen criticism and opposition was levelled at them, especially from the traditionalists within the Establishment who slung; to
the corpse of a dead Moderatism. "The Broad Church, group", says Campbell, "was small and its doings were watched with dislike by many within, the Church, of Scot
land. It was long before the rigid, uninspired conven tionalism of the middle years of the century gave way; but the tide was with the Broad Church group and not
1
with their opponents’** $he absence of heresy cases in this generation i$ an indication that a new attitude of tolerance towards theological opinions had now taken root*
Out of this virile Broad Church group emerged
another which found itself ...eager to reform the worship and Ohnretaanohip of the Church of Scotland* Worn it
the pioneers of the renascence of Catholic Ohurohmanehip
95.
in the second half of the nineteenth century would cleira. spiritual descent, Indeed several leading Broad Churchmen - the names of Robert fee, Professor William, Milligan, Br, A, K. H. Boyd, Principal Story come at once to mind - were amongst the most prominent figures in the High Church group which now arose.
M$he Broad, Church Movement fulfilled its function when it emancipated Scotland from the sterile dogmatism into which Evangelicalism had congealed. In its wake came
a very different spirit, intent primarily on declaring its allegiance to the Catholic faith”.1