The greatest trust which a denomination can impart to any group of men is the education of its candidates for the ministry. So, in 1843, when over one third of the Church of Scotland’s ministers left to form the Free Church of Scotland, one of the first things that the new denomination’s General Assembly did was to erect a theological college and to elect a faculty from among it ministers for the instruction of its future ministry.
At The Disruption, the name given to the 1843 breach, Professors Thomas Chalmers and David Welsh reigned their Chairs at Edinburgh University and became the first members of the new faculty. Chalmers held the Chair of Divinity and position of Principal, while Welsh held the Chair of Ecclesiastical History. They were soon joined by John Duncan, teaching Hebrew and Old Testament, and by William Cunningham, who was immediately released to go on a delegation to America. On his return, Cunningham assisted Chalmers. Then, at the death of Welsh in 1845, he was appointed to the Chair of Ecclesiastical History. When Chalmers died two years later, he became Principal.
The Free Church College was housed in Edinburgh’s New Town, in Free St George’s Church and in rooms at numbers 80 and 25 George Street, until the magnificent New College was built at the top of The Mound. The seminary, church, and assembly hall complex opened its doors in 1850. The members of its first full faculty, or Senate, were: William Cunningham, Principal and Chair of Ecclesiastical history; John Duncan, Chair of Hebrew and Old Testament; James Buchanan who was inducted to the Chair of Apologetics in 1845 and then to that of Systematic Theology upon the death of Chalmers in 1847; James Bannerman who joined them in 1849 as Professor of Apologetics and Pastoral Theology; and George Smeaton who took the Chair of New Testament Exegesis in 1857. Cunningham died in 1861. Thus, the years 1857 to 1861 were known as those of the “Great Senate”.
Within the Free Church, there was a difference of opinion, which rose to the level of a controversy, over whether there should be one theological college, housing the best possible resources, or whether there should be theological colleges in other university cities in addition to Edinburgh. The latter vision won through, and colleges were opened in Glasgow and Aberdeen. In 1853, George Smeaton and Patrick Fairbairn were appointed Professors of Divinity at the Aberdeen College. Fairbairn was translated to the Glasgow College in 1856, and Smeaton to Edinburgh in 1857.
Having identified the men to whom the church entrusted the education of its students for the ministry, the content of that education can be, to a great measure, recreated from their published works. As Duncan did not leave much of a written academic legacy, adding Fairbairn to the “Great Senate” fills a gap in Old Testament studies and makes contributions to other subjects.
By discipline: Cunningham and Buchanan contribute to Systematic Theology; Cunningham contributes to Ecclesiastical History; Smeaton and Fairbairn contribute to Biblical Studies; and Bannerman, Cunningham, and Fairbairn contribute to Pastoral Theology. However, as approach and method are as important as content, the course material reviewed will be gathered under its author rather than its subject.
William Cunningham (1805-1861) was born and raised in Lanarkshire. He began his studies at Edinburgh University in 1820, and while there was invited by some friends to hear Robert Gordon. He was converted under Gordon’s preaching in 1825. After attending the Divinity School, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Dunse in 1828.
He was called to the Middle Parish Church, Greenock, in 1830, and then to Trinity College Parish, Edinburgh, in 1834. After taking an active part in the Ten Years' Conflict, Cunningham demitted his change to become one of the founders of the Free Church of Scotland in 1843. He was called to the new denomination’s Theological College to assist Thomas Chalmers in teaching Divinity, but he did not take up his position until 1844 due to his being sent as a member of a delegation to America. Then, at the death of David Welsh in 1845, he was appointed to the Chair of Ecclesiastical History. When Chalmers died two years later, Cunningham became Principal. He held that position until his death.
Cunningham came to his teaching position with thirteen years of pastoral experience. Examples of his preaching can be found in a collection of his sermons edited by the Rev. J. J. Bonar and first published in 1872.
The part of the Divinity curriculum which was assigned to Cunningham in 1844 was Evidences of Revealed Religion; a course which he covered in fifty-one lectures and which was printed in 1878, titled Theological Lectures. After delivering a seven-lecture introduction to studying theology, he begins an extended exposition of the first chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith with a long digression into Christian evidences. The printed lectures do not stand as chapters in a book. Cunningham changes the subject mid-lecture and begins a new lecture where he left off previously as if the intervening hours had not existed. The lack of editing makes the book difficult to use, but it does give the reader an authentic experience of the course.
Being Thomas Chalmers’ assistant, Cunningham set the relevant volumes by Chalmers as required reading. Throughout the lectures, he refers to the applicable standard works of the time. The Systematic Theology text which he recommends is Turretin’s Institutes of Elenctic Theology.
Cunningham’s Theological Lectures cover material which comes under the headings of prolegomena and apologetics. The apologetic material is dated, but his exposition of the doctrine of Scripture has stood the test of time.
The lectures which Cunningham gave as Professor of Ecclesiastical History were edited after his death by his literary executors James Bannerman and James Buchanan. Rather than there being continuous flow as there is in the Theological Lectures, the Historical Theology lectures are divided into chapters and sections, and they are indexed. Thus, the lectures for one generation became the textbook for the next.
The lectures were described as Historical Theology rather than Ecclesiastical History because Cunningham thought that the narrative aspect of history, with names, dates, and places, could be easily learned from books and that there was no point in going over that ground again in his lectures. Instead, he focused on the principal doctrinal discussions in which the church engaged from the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), through the Trinitarianism and Christology of the ecumenical creeds and the defining doctrines of the Reformation and the Arminian debates, to the Erastian Controversy of his own day.
Buchanan and Bannerman also edited two volumes of book reviews and pamphlets on Historical Theology and Historical Ecclesiology. In The Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation, Cunningham responds, among other things, to assertions about Calvin and Beza and Zwingli and the Sacraments, subjects still debated today. His Discussions on Church Principles: Popish, Erastian, and Presbyterian are mainly historical reviews which will now become part of historical reviews.
In his lectures and writings, Cunningham compares or contrasts the subject under discussion to the doctrine of the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. The doctrine of the subordinate standards is the doctrine of the church, the doctrine of its ministers, the doctrine of its students, and of their studies.
Greatness is often used to describe Cunningham’s abilities as a theologian. His greatness comes from his ability to marshal facts and to identify and assess key issues. Unfortunately, like many of his contemporaries, the incisiveness of his thoughts can be blunted by the number of words he uses to express them. Nevertheless, the effort is always rewarded.
James Buchanan (1804-1870) came from Paisley in Renfrewshire. After studies at Glasgow University and the Divinity Hall in Edinburgh, he became the minister of the parishes of Roslin (1827) and North Leith (1828), and then, in 1840, the colleague of Robert Gordon in St Giles, Edinburgh. At the Disruption in 1843, Buchanan joined the Free Church and ministered in Edinburgh until being called to the Free Church College in 1845. He served as Professor of Apologetics for two years before taking the Chair of Systematic Theology when Chalmers died in 1847. Struggling with increasing deafness, he retired in 1868.
Buchanan came to the College after eighteen years of mostly urban parish ministry. An idea of his gifts as a preacher and pastor can be gained by reading his book Comfort in Affliction which was printed in 1837 and had gone through fifteen editions by 1850. During his summer vacations in Dumfriesshire, Buchanan preached in the open air, mostly to his fellow holidaymakers. His ministry was particularly blessed during the revival of vital religion which came in 1859.
Another book which he wrote prior to becoming a professor was The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit (1842). In this classic of experimental Calvinism, Buchanan describes the role of the Holy Spirit in effectual calling and in the life of a believer. He also presents a number of vignettes in which he examines the work of the Spirit in the conversions of individuals mentioned in the New Testament.
Even though Buchanan was only in the Chair of Apologetics for two years, his interest in the subject remained with him. In 1855, he wrote Faith in God and Modern Atheism Compared and followed it nine years later with Analogy Considered as a Guide to Truth and applied as an Aid to Faith. Buchanan saw the work of the apologist as pressing home the evidences of Christianity in order to refute error rather than prove truth.
In 1867, the series of Cunningham Lectures which Buchanan gave in 1866 were printed. His subject was The Doctrine of Justification. Being the Cunningham Lectures, the first seven lectures are a history of the doctrine beginning with the Old Testament and ending with the High Churchmen of his own day. The concluding eight are an exposition of the reformed doctrine of justification. They cover such topics as the relation of justification to the covenant of works, the mediatorial work of Christ, the imputed righteousness of Christ, the instrumentality of faith, and the work of the Holy Spirit.
James Bannerman (1807-1868) was born at Cargill, Perthshire, into a family which had been ministers for generations. Educated at Edinburgh University and Divinity Hall, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Perth in 1830 and ordained to the Parish of Ormiston, East Lothian, in 1833. Converted early in life, Bannerman sought out the ministry of the Rev. Robert Gordon while in Edinburgh. At the Disruption, he stayed at Ormiston as the Free Church minister. Then, in 1849, he was called to the Chair of Apologetics and Pastoral Theology, where he remained until his death.
He came to the College with nineteen years of pastoral experience in the same village.
Although Bannerman is known today for his work on ecclesiology, during his professorship, his literary output was in the field of apologetics: Prevalent Forms of Unbelief (1849), Apologetical Theology (1851), and Inspiration: The Infallible Truth and Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures (1865). However, like Buchanan, his apologetical writings have not been reprinted. The world moved on, and apologetics has moved to meet it.
The two-volume set for which Bannerman is known is his The Church: a Treatise on the Nature, Powers, Ordinances, Discipline, and Government of the Christian Church (1868). This work was prepared for the press by James’ son D. Douglas Bannerman. Just as Buchanan and his father had edited Cunningham’s lectures, so Douglas divided his father’s course into parts, chapters, and sections, and added appendices; David Laing compiled the index.
The book deals with the nature of the church; the relation of the church to the world and to the state; the power of the church and how it is exercised in doctrine, worship, and discipline; and those to whom the exercise of that power is given. Bannerman takes the principles of the Second Reformation writers and applies them to his own day. That means that in the face of the Tractarian Movement, there is a slightly stronger emphasis on Presbyterianism contra Prelacy than there is on Presbyterianism contra Independency; that in the face of Erastianism, the rights of the Christian people are clearly stated; and that in the face of Voluntaryism, Bannerman strongly advocates for the Establishment Principle, though is careful to address the subjects of intolerance and persecution.
At the Disruption, the teaching of Biblical Studies was placed into the hands of two Aberdonians, Alexander Black (1789-1864) and John “Rabbi” Duncan (1796-1870). Both men left their mark on the history of the church, but not for their written academic legacy.
Black had been Professor of Divinity at Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he specialised in Hebrew. Because of his abilities as a linguist (he spoke nineteen languages), in 1838, he has placed on the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly committee of inquiry into erecting a mission to the Jews. Along with the ministers Alexander Keith, Andrew Bonar, and Robert Murray M’Cheyne, plus Robert Woodrow, an elder from Glasgow, he traveled to Palestine. Due to sickness, Keith and Black made their way home through central Europe, stopping to recover at the Hungarian city of Pest. While there, they were encouraged by Archduchess Marie Dorothea to open a mission in that city.
The mission was opened in 1841, and one of its missionaries was John Duncan. Called “Rabbi” Duncan because of his knowledge of Hebrew and Rabbinic literature, he was an obvious choice for the position. During his two years in Pest, Alfred Edersheim and Adolph Saphir were converted under his ministry.
Although little is said of him as a professor, Duncan was held in esteem and affection by his students for his deep Christian experience and his gift of composing aphorisms and epithets.
Alexander Black retired in 1856 and was replaced by George Smeaton.
John Duncan retired in 1863 and was replaced by A. B. Davidson.
An engaging and effective teacher, with two years of ministry experience as a probationer without charge, Davidson (1831-1902) was brought in to assist Duncan in 1858 and took over from him in 1863. It was he who introduced Higher Criticism to the New College curriculum. Even though Davidson did so with some caveats, a number of his students, such as William Robertson Smith, embraced the German views with enthusiasm. Davidson escaped the censure which Smith received because he was less dogmatic in his statements and better liked by his colleagues: Davidson received the benefit of the doubt which Smith denied himself.
For the purpose of this survey, it will be assumed that instead of going to Glasgow, Patrick Fairbairn accompanied George Smeaton when the latter went to Edinburgh. The contribution of Fairbairn will be examined instead of that of Davidson. The purpose is not to create an alternative history to describe what might have been the future of the Free Church had it been spared the introduction of Higher Criticism. Alternative history is better left to cable television channels for insomniacs and thriller writers. The purpose is to describe a course of study in Old Testament hermeneutics and theology which is consistent with the other courses recounted here.
George Smeaton (1814-1889) came from Greenlaw in Berwickshire. Educated at Edinburgh University and at the Divinity Hall under Prof. Thomas Chalmers, he worked as a student missionary in North Leith when James Buchanan was the minister. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh in 1838, called to Morningside Quod Sacra Parish Church in 1839, and then to Falkland Parish Church, Fife, in 1840. At the Disruption, Smeaton joined the Free Church and was called to Auchterarder. In 1853, he was appointed by the General Assembly to a Chair of Divinity at its Aberdeen College until he was translated to the Chair of New Testament Exegesis at New College, Edinburgh, a position which he held from 1857 until his death.
Including his time working in urban missions, Smeaton came to his teaching positions with about eighteen years of pastoral experience. A volume of his Sermons and Addresses (2022) has been compiled by John Keddie.
Smeaton’s writings are as valuable for the methodology used to arrive at their content as much as for the content itself. Indeed, he is careful to outline what he is going to do and how he is going to do it before he does it. The method which he uses is inductive study. What appears in his books is a slight variation of what he did in his classes. The difference is that there is less grammatical and lexical work shown in the books and more space is given to the development of the resulting propositions.
His The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (1882, 1889) shows his method best. In the first part of the book, Smeaton sets forth the biblical testimony for the doctrine of the Trinity. Then, in the second, he orders the results of his survey of the relevant Old and New Testament passages under various headings. He considers the personality and progression of the Holy Spirit before speaking of His work in the anointing of Christ, in connection with revelation and inspiration, in the regeneration of individuals, in their sanctification, and in the church. This being a series of Cunningham Lectures, the third part is a historical review of the doctrine.
In The Apostles’ Doctrine of the Atonement (1870), he describes, in the first part, several aspects of the Apostles’ presentation of the atonement, noting such things as their understanding of the Old Testament sacrifices as types of Christ and their interpretation of Old Testament prophecy. The second part is a detailed review of the passages in Acts and the Epistles which refer to the atonement. In this book, the results are presented, and then the working is shown.
Christ’s Doctrine of the Atonement (1868, 1871) was the first of the three books to be published. It has the least direct exegetical work of the three, yet it still has all the hallmarks of an inductive study. Here, Smeaton gives his most detailed assessments with references, citations, and examples interspersed so that readers can go away and do their own exegetical studies. Not only so, but readers approaching this book looking for a study on the atonement will also find a mind-expanding and heartwarming Christology.
Patrick Fairbairn (1805-1874) was also born in Greenlaw, Berwickshire. He attended Edinburgh University from 1818 to 1826 when he was licensed by the Presbytery of Duns. After working as a private tutor in a family, he was ordained at North Ronaldsay in 1830. He then moved to Bridgeton, in Glasgow, in 1837, before becoming the minister of Saltoun, East Lothian, in 1840. At the Disruption, Fairbairn stayed at Saltoun as its first Free Church minister. In 1855, he was called to be the Professor of Theology at the Free Church College, Aberdeen. A year later, he took up the same position at the Free Church College in Glasgow, becoming its Principal the year after that.
Fairbairn came to the College with fifteen years of pastoral experience which include time on the most northerly of the Orkney Islands, in the Glasgow of the Industrial Revolution, and in a rural village setting.
Most of Fairbairn’s literary contributions cover Old and New Testament topics and come in the fields of hermeneutics and exegesis. He also wrote a book on Pastoral Theology (1875). In it, he discusses the office and duties of the minister of the gospel. One of the advantages of this book is that it was written by a Presbyterian for Presbyterians, making Fairbairn’s pastoral theology is consistent with Bannerman’s ecclesiology. One of the disadvantages is that being a practical study written in a distant time and place, the context in which Fairbairn expounds his principles is foreign. Nevertheless, there is a lot of good advice here, especially in the area of homiletics.
Fairbairn’s contribution to New Testament studies is his Hermeneutical Manual; or, Introduction to the exegetical study of the Scriptures of the New Testament (1858) and his commentary on the Pastoral Epistles (1874). In the former, he begins with discussions of the Greek of the New Testament and how to arrive at an understanding of its meaning, with special reference to the use of figurative language and parables. He follows this with a series of brief essays on subjects connected to the exegesis of some difficult New Testament passages. Fairbairn concludes the book with an examination of Old Testament passages cited or quoted in the New.
The relationship between the Old and New Testaments is the focus of his Old Testament works. In The Typology of Scripture (2 vols 1845-47), Fairbairn begins by setting out the principles for recognising and interpreting types and then discusses the types found in the Pentateuch. In 1856, a companion volume on The Interpretation of Prophecy (1856, 1865) appeared. Together with these works on hermeneutics, he wrote commentaries on Jonah, his Life, Character, and Mission (1849), and Ezekiel and the Book of his Prophecy (1851). Fairbairn’s final study in the relation of the Old Testament to the New was The Revelation of Law in Scripture (1869) in which after reviewing the Law in terms of moral, ceremonial, and judicial, he focuses on Paul’s use of the Law in his epistles.
There are two things which mark Fairbairn’s work in biblical and pastoral studies. The first is that he taught hermeneutics and exegesis with preaching in view. The second is that he was one of the last conservative biblical scholars advancing Old Testament studies in a positive direction before the polemic against higher criticism took over the field.
Before constructing, or reconstructing, courses out of the writings of Cunningham, Buchanan, Bannerman, Smeaton, and Fairbairn, there are some general principles or features of this 19th century theological education which should be noted.
The first is that theological education is ecclesiastical. It is carried out by the church, not the parachurch.
The second is that theological education is vocational. Students are being trained for the ministry by men with experience in the ministry.
The third is that theological education is denominational. Students are not being given a generic Reformed education. They are being trained for the ministry in a particular denomination with its own ecclesiology and distinctives.
The fourth is that theological education is confessional. Students are being prepared to take their ordination vows intelligently: to own and to maintain the doctrine, worship, and government of the denomination from a position of knowledge, understanding, and commitment.
The course material falls under three headings. Firstly, there are books which were originally or might be made into lecture series. Secondly, there are books or portions of books which might be used as required reading. Thirdly, there are books or portions of books which might be used as additional reading.
The course in Ecclesiastical History can be experienced much as Cunningham intended by setting a history textbook as required reading and using his Historical Theology as the lectures. For additional reading, some of the reviews or essays in The Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation and the doctrinal histories in Smeaton’s The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit and The Apostles’ Doctrine of the Atonement and Buchanan’s The Doctrine of Justification will contribute to answering many important questions still asked today.
A whole Systematic Theology course cannot be recreated using the materials to hand. However, Cunningham’s Theological Lectures cover the doctrine of Scripture; Smeaton’s The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit contributes lectures to the doctrines of the Trinity, effectual calling, and sanctification; Buchanan’s The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit contributes lectures to the doctrines effectual calling and sanctification; and Buchanan on The Doctrine of Justification covers that subject. Although they will also be listed under Biblical Studies, Fairbairn’s lectures on The Revelation of Law in Scripture contain enough Systematic Theology to be included here to fill the part of the course dealing with the Law of God.
The Practical Theology courses are ecclesiology and pastoral theology. Bannerman’s The Church: a Treatise on the Nature, Powers, Ordinances, Discipline, and Government of the Christian Church is an Ecclesiology course. The required reading for it is found in the notes, and Cunningham’s Discussions on Church Principles: Popish, Erastian, and Presbyterian provide additional reading. Fairbairn contributes his Pastoral Theology.
Smeaton and Fairbairn staff the Biblical Studies department. The emphasis which they place on the unity of the Scriptures and the interconnection between the Old and New Testaments make the following division a generalisation. For Old Testament hermeneutics and theology, there are Fairbairn’s The Typology of Scripture, The Interpretation of Prophecy, and The Revelation of Law in Scripture. For New Testament hermeneutics and theology, there is Fairbairn’s Hermeneutical Manual; or, Introduction to the exegetical study of the Scriptures of the New Testament; and there is Smeaton’s The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s Doctrine of the Atonement, and The Apostles’ Doctrine of the Atonement. While much of the material here is not in lecture form, its content is essential to the course and must stand in the place of lectures and above required reading.
In addition to the books named above, there are two others, by authors not included in the imaginary faculty, which should be mentioned. William Binnie’s The Psalms: Their History, Teachings, and Use (1870, 1886) fills a gap in Old Testament studies and fits in with Fairbairn’s New Testament’s use of the Old motif. Hugh Martin, to whom Cunningham was a mentor and Smeaton a close friend, supplies a series of lectures on The Atonement: In its Relations to the Covenant, the Priesthood, the Intercession of our Lord.
The greatest trust which a denomination can impart to any group of men is the education of its candidates for the ministry. What did these men think was important to keeping faith with that trust? They saw their duty as being to teach future preachers of the gospel how to correctly interpret the Word of God and to know the scriptural and historic doctrine, worship, and government of the church.