William Menzies Alexander (

Shettleston Shettleston ( sco, Shuttlestoun, gd, Baile Nighean Sheadna) is a district in the east end of Glasgow in Scotland. Toponymy The origin of the name 'Shettleston' is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a multi ...

, then in

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

, 12 May 1858 –

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

30 August 1929) was a Scottish medical and theological writer. He was

Moderator of the General Assembly The moderator of the General Assembly is the chairperson of a General Assembly, the highest court of a Presbyterian or Reformed church. Kirk sessions and presbyteries may also style the chairperson as moderator. The Oxford Dictionary states th ...

for the Free Church of Scotland for 1911/12.

Life

He was born in

on 12 May 1858, the son of John Alexander and his wife, Margaret Menzies. After graduating

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

from 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 , ...

in 1885 Alexander trained as a medical missionary and taught biology and chemistry at Wilson College in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, before returning to Scotland to complete M.B. (1888), B.D. (1889) and M.D. (1891). He then returned to Bombay where he was examiner to the Technical College and the

University of Bombay The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...

until he contracted an illness that permanently damaged his hearing. He returned to Scotland and was appointed Professor of the new Free Church College in 1904, teaching most subjects in the curriculum, including Hebrew. Later, he was moderator of the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

in 1911. He obtained the degree of

D.Sc. Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

in 1919. He died in Edinburgh on 30 August 1929. He is buried nearby his home, with his wife, Agnes Campbell (1852–1933), in

Morningside Cemetery, Edinburgh Morningside Cemetery is a cemetery in south Edinburgh. It was established in 1878 by the Metropolitan Cemetery Company, originally just outwith the then city boundary, the nearest suburb then being Morningside. It extends to just over 13 ac ...

. His unusual polished black stone stands on an east–west path near the centre of the cemetery, towards its western end.

Works

Alexander is best remembered for his work ''Demonic Possession in the New Testament'' (1902), which attempted to explain accounts of

demonic possession Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and reli ...

in the

synoptic Gospels The gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Mark, and Gospel of Luke, Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical ...

in medical and scientific terms. This caused a controversy in regard to his position as Professor of Divinity at Free Church College, Edinburgh, with accusations of non-belief in the inspiration of Scripture being made against Alexander and the College. In fact, Alexander did retain belief in the miraculous, and considered that the affirmations of the possessed of the Messiah were the miraculous element, but that descriptions of the illness were simply largely the language of the day. In an address in Edinburgh in 1910 entitled "The Origin and Antiquity of Man in the light of Evolution and Scripture", Alexander laid out his reasoning for affirming special creation and rejecting what he described as the "theory of a descent of man from apes".

Family

He married Agnes Campbell Blair (1857-1933) on 18September 1889 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. They lived at 11 St Ninians Terrace in south-west Morningside.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1911-12

Publications

''Demonic Possession in the New Testament: Its Relations Historical, Medical, and Theological''
(1902)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, William Menzies 1858 births 1929 deaths 19th-century Scottish medical doctors 19th-century Ministers of the Free Church of Scotland Alumni of the University of Glasgow Clergy from Glasgow Scottish biblical scholars Academic staff of the University of Mumbai 20th-century Ministers of the Free Church of Scotland Medical doctors from Glasgow