"An Impossibility" William Robertson Smith. I.
The Free Church of Scotland was founded in 1843 by the secession from the Church of Scotland by hundreds of Reformed, Evangelical ministers. By 1900 it was a 'mixed denomination', containing a number of ministers who were basically modernist in their theology (note: the present Free Church of Scotland is the result of a number of conservative evangelicals refusing to enter a Church union scheme with the majority of Free Church ministers).
Modernism (or liberalism) entered the Free Church through the Free Church colleges, at first in the form of Higher Criticism of the Bible. The most notorious of the men by whom it entered was William Robertson Smith.
Smith was the son of an Aberdeenshire Free Church minister, a man who had suffered a great deal in the Disruption, when the Free Church Fathers had seceded from the Church of Scotland. William Pirie Smith was a great lover of books, and he was delighted when all three of his children showed signs of extraordinary precocity of intellect. While two of the children died young, the third, William Robertson, went up to Aberdeen University in 1861 as the youngest undergraduate in his year and graduated in 1866. In the autumn of the same year, William Robertson Smith began his theological studies at New College, Edinburgh, then the Free Church college. While there was a Free Church College in Aberdeen, William Pirie Smith felt that his son would be better served by the better-equipped Edinburgh college.
An excellent student, William Robertson Smith found himself particularly attracted to the lectures of Andrew Bruce Davidson, the Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at New College. Davidson was seen as fresh and exciting by many of the young students (who also saw the older professors as old-fashioned and out of touch). Davidson was another Aberdeenshire man, and in 1866 he was a relatively new face among the professors of New College. While his predecessor in the Chair, Dr. John 'Rabbi' Duncan, had been a thorough believer in the inerrancy of the Bible, and on the subject of the world being millions of years old once said: "I dinna believe 't at a'. I am sure the Pentateuch was written by Moses, and I don't believe a word o' that. With Paul, I believe all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets" (quoted in David Brown, The Life of Rabbi Duncan [Glasgow, Free Presbyterian Publications, 1986] P. 421), Davidson, on the other hand, felt that the views of the German higher critics were, if not unassailable, at least entitled to some respect. After all, some of the most brilliant academic minds in Europe were teaching these views, radically re-dating portions of the Old Testament, particularly the Pentateuch.
Davidson was a rather shy, reserved person, and he did not teach these views openly except with the greatest caution. The more advanced German views he shared only with an inner circle of students who appreciated them. Chief among these students was William Robertson Smith. Davidson's own fervent personal faith helped to disarm those who were suspicious of the 'Higher Criticism', and his caution ensured that he did not get into trouble. What Robertson Smith did we shall, God willing, see in the next post.
Modernism (or liberalism) entered the Free Church through the Free Church colleges, at first in the form of Higher Criticism of the Bible. The most notorious of the men by whom it entered was William Robertson Smith.
Smith was the son of an Aberdeenshire Free Church minister, a man who had suffered a great deal in the Disruption, when the Free Church Fathers had seceded from the Church of Scotland. William Pirie Smith was a great lover of books, and he was delighted when all three of his children showed signs of extraordinary precocity of intellect. While two of the children died young, the third, William Robertson, went up to Aberdeen University in 1861 as the youngest undergraduate in his year and graduated in 1866. In the autumn of the same year, William Robertson Smith began his theological studies at New College, Edinburgh, then the Free Church college. While there was a Free Church College in Aberdeen, William Pirie Smith felt that his son would be better served by the better-equipped Edinburgh college.
An excellent student, William Robertson Smith found himself particularly attracted to the lectures of Andrew Bruce Davidson, the Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at New College. Davidson was seen as fresh and exciting by many of the young students (who also saw the older professors as old-fashioned and out of touch). Davidson was another Aberdeenshire man, and in 1866 he was a relatively new face among the professors of New College. While his predecessor in the Chair, Dr. John 'Rabbi' Duncan, had been a thorough believer in the inerrancy of the Bible, and on the subject of the world being millions of years old once said: "I dinna believe 't at a'. I am sure the Pentateuch was written by Moses, and I don't believe a word o' that. With Paul, I believe all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets" (quoted in David Brown, The Life of Rabbi Duncan [Glasgow, Free Presbyterian Publications, 1986] P. 421), Davidson, on the other hand, felt that the views of the German higher critics were, if not unassailable, at least entitled to some respect. After all, some of the most brilliant academic minds in Europe were teaching these views, radically re-dating portions of the Old Testament, particularly the Pentateuch.
Davidson was a rather shy, reserved person, and he did not teach these views openly except with the greatest caution. The more advanced German views he shared only with an inner circle of students who appreciated them. Chief among these students was William Robertson Smith. Davidson's own fervent personal faith helped to disarm those who were suspicious of the 'Higher Criticism', and his caution ensured that he did not get into trouble. What Robertson Smith did we shall, God willing, see in the next post.
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