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 the Rev. 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.
Buchanan’s theological writings have a warmth and accessibility, even a conciseness, unusual for their time. Both The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit and The Doctrine of Justification should be required reading for any gospel preacher.