'The New Evangelism' I

Henry Drummond


In the next few posts I intend, for the benefit of those readers who were not scared away by the series on Alexander Peden, to explore the issue of the New Evangelism in the Free Church of Scotland in the late 19th Century. Michael Haykin has already mentioned Henry Drummond (1851-1897) and his teaching, "an eclectic blend of Darwinism and Christianity." Alexander Whyte's comment on Drummond is most revealing “The trouble with Hen-a-ry is that he doesna ken [know] onything aboot sin.” [Cited Alexander Gammie, Preachers I Have Heard (London: Pickering & Inglis, Ltd., 1945), 12]. And that was Drummond's problem. He wrote widely, and anyone interested in his writings may find them here.

Drummond was born in Stirling in 1851, into a staunchly evangelical family. He was 'brought up' a Christian, and never went through any sort of crisis experience. This is not, of course, a proof he was no Christian (although the Highland Host tends to suspect such people). Drummond was educated at the local schools before going up to Edinburgh University. From Edinburgh university he went to New College, Edinburgh, then the Edinburgh college of the Free Church of Scotland. Drummond was attracted to the study of natural science (no bad thing, the Highland Host has a science degree), and won a class medal in geology (his sole qualification in the subject). Geology seems to have attracted him partly because it involved a lot of work out-of-doors - Drummond was a very out-of-doors sort of man.
At the New College Drummond got involved in the students' Theological Society, and embraced the Germon Higher Critical view of the Bible. More of that later.
Drummond did not become a minister. At New College he became caught up in the Moody and Sankey campaign in Scotland, but after he finished his course, he took up the post of lecturer in Natural Science at the Free Church College, Glasgow. He remained interested in evangelism, and pursued both interests until he was stricken down by a mysterious wasting disease that finally killed him in 1897.

In the next post we shall, God willing, begin to consider Henry Drummond's 'New Evangelism'.