William Barclay (born 5 December 1907 in

Wick Wick most often refers to: * Capillary action ("wicking") ** Candle wick, the cord used in a candle or oil lamp ** Solder wick, a copper-braided wire used to desolder electronic contacts Wick or WICK may also refer to: Places and placename ...

, Scotland; died 24 January 1978 in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland) was a Scottish author, radio and television presenter,

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

minister, and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. He wrote a popular set of

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

commentaries on the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

that sold 1.5 million copies.

Life

Barclay's father was a bank manager. Barclay attended Dalziel High School in

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

and then studied classics at the University of Glasgow 1925–1929, before studying divinity. He studied at the University of Marburg during the year 1932-33.Cross, F. L., and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. After being ordained in the Church of Scotland in 1933, he was minister at Trinity Church

Renfrew Renfrew (; sco, Renfrew; gd, Rinn Friù) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former ...

from 1933 to 1946, afterwards returning to the University of Glasgow as lecturer in New Testament from 1947, and as Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism from 1963.

Religious views

Barclay described himself theologically as a "liberal evangelical."J. D. Douglas, “Barclay, William (1907–78),” ed. Martin Davie et al., New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic (London; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press; InterVarsity Press, 2016), 103. Barclay expressed his personal views in his ''A Spiritual Autobiography'' (1977), and Clive L. Rawlins elaborates in ''William Barclay: prophet of goodwill: the authorised biography'' (1998). They included: * belief in

universal salvation In Christian theology, universal reconciliation (also called universal salvation, Christian universalism, or in context simply universalism) is the doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls—because of divine love and mercy—will ult ...

: "I am a convinced universalist. I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God." * pacifism: "war is mass murder". *

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

: "We believe in evolution, the slow climb upwards of man from the level of the beasts. Jesus is the end and climax of the evolutionary process because in Him men met God. The danger of the Christian faith is that we set up Jesus as a kind of secondary God. The Bible never, as it were, makes a second God of Jesus. Rather, it stresses the utter dependence of Jesus on God." Journalist James Douglas suggested Barclay was also "reticent about the inspiration of Scripture, critical of the doctrine of

substitutionary atonement Substitutionary atonement, also called vicarious atonement, is a central concept within Christian theology which asserts that Jesus died "for us", as propagated by the Western classic and objective paradigms of atonement in Christianity, which ...

, and given to views about the virgin birth and

miracles A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

which conservatives would find either heretical or imprecise."

Works

While professor, he decided to dedicate his life to "making the best biblical scholarship available to the average reader". The eventual result was the ''Daily Study Bible'', a set of 17 commentaries on the

, published by

Saint Andrew Press Saint Andrew Press, established in 1954 to promote the works of the theologian William Barclay, is the publishing house of the Church of Scotland. It merged with Scottish Christian Press in 2005. In January 2011, Saint Andrew Press's sales, pr ...

, the Church of Scotland's publishing house. Despite the series name, these commentaries do not set a program of regular study. Rather, they go verse by verse through Barclay's own translation of the New Testament, listing and examining every possible interpretation known to Barclay and providing all the background information he considered possibly relevant, all in layman's terms. The commentaries were fully updated with the help of William Barclay's son, Ronnie Barclay, in recent years and they are now known as the ''New Daily Study Bible'' series. The 17 volumes of the set were all best-sellers and continue to be so to this day. A companion set giving a similar treatment to the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

was endorsed but not written by Barclay. In 2008

began taking the content of the New Daily Study Bibles and producing pocket-sized thematic titles called ''Insights''. The ''Insights'' books are introduced by contemporary authors, broadcasters and scholars, including Nick Baines and

Diane-Louise Jordan Diane Johnson (born 28 June 1960), better known by her stage name Diane Louise Jordan, is a British television presenter. She was the first black presenter of the children's television programme ''Blue Peter'', being involved in the programme fro ...

. Barclay wrote many other popular books, always drawing on scholarship but written in a highly accessible style. In ''The Mind of Jesus'' (1960) he states that his aim was "to make the figure of Jesus more vividly alive, so that we may know him better and love him more". Barclay's books on the gospels and Jesus include: * ''The Gospels and Acts: Matthew, Mark and Luke'' * ''The Gospels and Acts: John and Acts'' * ''Discovering Jesus'' * ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (a companion to the

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

) * ''Jesus As They Saw Him'' * ''Crucified and Crowned'' * ''The Mind of Jesus'' * ''The Parables of Jesus'' * ''The Plain Man Looks at the Beatitudes'' * ''The Plain Man Looks at the Lord's Prayer'' * ''The Old Law and the New Law'' * ''And He Had Compassion: The Miracles of Jesus'' (Judson Press) * ''We Have Seen the Lord!'' * ''The Master's Men'' * ''Fishers of Men'' Barclay's books on New Testament studies include: * ''The New Testament: A New Translation'' * ''A Beginner's Guide to the New Testament'' * ''The New Daily Study Bible'' (17 volumes covering the entire New Testament) * ''Insights'' (Series currently extending to 8 titles) * ''Good Tidings of Great Joy'' * ''God's Young Church'' * ''The Mind of St. Paul'' * ''Many Witnesses, One Lord'' * ''Flesh And Spirit: An Examination of Galatians 5:19–23'' * ''Letters to the Seven Churches'' * ''The Men, The Meaning, The Message of the Books'' * ''Great Themes of the New Testament'' * ''New Testament Words'' Barclay also wrote two books on Old Testament passages: * ''The Ten Commandments'' * ''The Lord is My Shepherd'' Barclay's theological introductions include: * ''The Apostles' Creed'' * ''Conversion'' * ''The Promise of the Spirit'' * ''The Lord's Supper'' * ''Ethics in a Permissive Society'' * ''At the Last Trumpet: Jesus Christ and the End of Time'' Barclay's other books include: * ''Introducing the Bible'' * ''Growing in Christian Faith'' * ''The Plain Man's Book of Prayers'' * ''Communicating the Gospel'' (reprinted as ''Meditations on Communicating the Gospel'') * ''A Spiritual Autobiography''

References

External links

Brief biography
at Harper Collins (publishers) *
The Enigmatic William Barclay
', article in an online Christian magazine.

by William Barclay
A collection of quotations
from William Barclay. * http://www.stmarkspress.com Publisher of some of Barclay's major books {{DEFAULTSORT:Barclay, William 1907 births 1978 deaths 20th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Scottish Calvinist and Reformed theologians 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians Scottish Christian universalists 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed ministers People educated at Dalziel High School Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scottish radio presenters Scottish television presenters Academics of the University of Glasgow People from Wick, Caithness British Christian pacifists Calvinist pacifists 20th-century Christian universalists Christian universalist theologians