William Dickie Niven (26 April 1879 – 26 February 1965), of

Fyvie Fyvie is a village in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Geography Fyvie lies alongside the River Ythan and is on the A947 road. Architecture What in 1990, at least, was a Clydesdale Bank was built in 1866 by James Matthews. The ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, was a Scottish academic.

Family

Niven was the son of Charles Niven and Jane M. Mackay. In 1908, he married Isabella Cumming and they had two daughters.

Education

He was educated at Fyvie Public School and Gordon's College, Aberdeen. Niven was educated at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

, then at

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and Halle. He graduated with an MA from Aberdeen in 1900.

Career

He was a church minister from 1907 to 1927. Niven was Professor of

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 ...

Language and Literature from 1935 to 1946. He was professor of

Ecclesiastical History __NOTOC__ Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual ...

from 1946 until 1949, both at

Trinity College, Glasgow Trinity College, Glasgow, Scotland, is the Church of Scotland's College at the University of Glasgow. It provides special supervision of candidates for the ministry through a Principal (appointed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland ...

. He was an

army chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term '' ch ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was awarded the

Lumsden and Sachs Fellowship The Lumsden and Sachs Fellowship is a prize awarded by Christ's College, Aberdeen to the overall, most distinguished graduate of the year having studied in the Department of Divinity and Religious Studies of the University of Aberdeen. Fellows ...

and the Croom Robertson Fellowship. He retired in 1949.‘NIVEN, William Dickie’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 200
accessed 30 March 2014
/ref>

Publications

*''The conflicts of the early church'' *''John Knox and the Scottish Reformation'' *''Reformation principles after four centuries : the thirty-fifth series of Croall lectures'' *''The professor as preacher, sermons by Scottish theological professors'' *''Leaders of the ancient Church. V, Cyprian of Carthage'' *''National contributions to biblical science : XV. The contribution of Great Britain to church history. II''

References

External links

William Dickie Niven
on WorldCat {{DEFAULTSORT:Niven, William Dickie 1879 births 1965 deaths Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Halle alumni Scottish scholars and academics People from Aberdeenshire People educated at Robert Gordon's College Academics of the University of Glasgow Historians of Christianity British historians of religion