The Aberdeen doctors or Doctors of Aberdeen were six

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

s working at

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on long- ...

and King's College in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Scotland in the seventeenth century. Until 1635, they enjoyed the leadership of Patrick Forbes,

Bishop of Aberdeen The Bishop of Aberdeen (originally Bishop of Mortlach, in Latin Murthlacum) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Nec ...

. They are distinguished not only for their positions at Aberdeen, but also by their irenicist opposition to the National Covenant of 1638. Their adherence to

Episcopacy A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

and their support for the Articles of the Assembly at Perth (1618), which prescribed several English forms of worship, form the backdrop of their opposition to the Presbyterian Covenanters.

History

When Patrick Forbes was consecrated Bishop of Aberdeen in 1618, he

endowed A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are of ...

a chair of divinity in each Aberdeen college. He revived the awarding of degrees in divinity which earlier Protestants had suppressed as prideful or as redolent of the Roman Catholic title Doctor of the Church. The early recipients of the Doctor of Divinity who stayed on to teach at the colleges became known as the "Aberdeen doctors".

John Dury John Dury (1596 in Edinburgh – 1680 in Kassel) was a Scottish Calvinist minister and an intellectual of the English Civil War period. He made efforts to re-unite the Calvinist and Lutheran wings of Protestantism, hoping to succeed when he moved ...

wrote to the doctors seeking their opinion on the points of dispute between the

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

and the Calvinists. Their reply of 20 February 1637 was supported by

Robert Baillie Robert Baillie (30 April 16021662) was a Church of Scotland minister who became famous as an author and a propagandist for the Covenanters.

but opposed by Samuel Rutherford. On 20 July 1638, a deputation seeking Aberdeen's adhesion to February's National Covenant arrived, comprising the

Earl of Montrose Montrose may refer to: Places Scotland * Montrose, Angus (the original after which all others ultimately named or derived) ** Montrose Academy, the secondary school in Montrose Australia *Montrose, Queensland (Southern Downs Region), a locality i ...

Lord Cupar The title of Lord Balmerino (or Balmerinoch) was a title in the Peerage of Scotland; it was created in 1606 and forfeited in 1746 on the attainder and execution of the 6th Lord Balmerino in the Tower of London. The title of Lord Coupar or Cupar ...

, the Master of Forbes, and Sir Thomas Burnett, Laird of Leyes representing the nobility; and Alexander Henderson, David Dickson, and Andrew Cant, the ministry. The doctors were prepared to adhere provided satisfactory answers were given to 14 written questions, termed "demands". The Covenanter ministers' "answers" were submitted the following day, prompting "replies" from the doctors and "second answers" from the Covenanters, who then left the town. The doctors issued further replies which they called "duplies", which went unanswered. All the texts were quickly printed and widely circulated and debated. The doctors' obduracy contributed to the

First Bishops' War First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

of 1639 in which the Covenanters sought the submission of Aberdeen.

List

The six doctors who participated in the 1638 disputation were: * William Leslie, Principal of King's College, leader after death of Bishop Forbes in 1635 * John Forbes of Corse, theologian at King's College and son of Bishop Forbes *

Alexander Scroggie Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, scholar of King's College, Minister in

Old Aberdeen Old Aberdeen is part of the city of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891. It ret ...

* Alexander Ross, Scholar of King's College, Minister in Aberdeen * Robert Baron, Professor of Divinity at Marischal, Minister in Aberdeen *

James Sibbald James Sibbald (–1647) was a Scottish Royalist divine, and theologian. Life James Sibbald was of an ancient family in the Mearns. His birth, about 1595, may be inferred from his being on ordination trials with the presbytery of Deer on 28 ...

, Professor of Natural Philosophy at Marischal, Minister in Aberdeen As well as Bishop Patrick Forbes, two other notable Aberdeen divines were associated with the six doctors:Macmillan 1909, pp.48–49 *

William Guild William Guild (1586–1657) was a Scottish minister, academic and theological writer. Life He was the second son of Marjorie (born Donaldson) and Matthew Guild, a wealthy armourer and hammerman of Aberdeen, and Deacon of the Guild of Hammerm ...

, who subscribed to the six doctors' initial demands but then switched to the side of the Covenanters *

William Forbes Billy, Willie or William Forbes may refer to: Financiers *Sir William Forbes, 6th Baronet (1739–1806), Scottish banker *William Forbes of Callendar (1756–1823), Scottish coppersmith and landowner *William Howell Forbes (1837–1896), American b ...

, principal of Marischal until made

Bishop of Edinburgh The Bishop of Edinburgh, or sometimes the Lord Bishop of Edinburgh is the ordinary of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Edinburgh. Prior to the Reformation, Edinburgh was part of the Diocese of St Andrews, under the Archbishop of St Andrews ...

in 1634, months before his death

References

Sources

;Primary: * ''The Answers of Some Brethren of the Ministerie to the Replies of the Ministers and Professours of Divinitie in Aberdene, Concerning the Late Covenant. Also, Duplies of the Ministers and Professors of Aberdene, to the second Answers of some reverend Brethren, Concerning the Late Covenant'', R. Young: Edinburgh, 1638. ;Secondary: * * *

Citations

{{University of Aberdeen, state=collapsed 17th century in Scotland Scottish Episcopal theologians University of Aberdeen Wars of the Three Kingdoms