James Orr (1844–6 September 1913) was a Scottish

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

minister and professor of

church 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 ...

and then

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. He was an influential defender of

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

doctrine and a contributor to ''

The Fundamentals ''The Fundamentals: A Testimony To The Truth'' (generally referred to simply as ''The Fundamentals'') is a set of ninety essays published between 1910 and 1915 by the Testimony Publishing Company of Chicago. It was initially published quarterly in ...

''.

Biography

Orr was born 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 ...

and spent his childhood in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. He was orphaned and became an apprentice bookbinder, but went on to enter

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

in 1865. In 1870, he obtained an M.A. in

Philosophy of Mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are addre ...

, and after graduating from the

theological college A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

of the United Presbyterian Church, he was ordained a minister in

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

. In 1885 he received a

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...

from Glasgow University, and in the early 1890s delivered a series of lectures that later became the influential ''The Christian View of God and the World''. He was appointed professor of

Church 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 ...

in 1891 at the theological college of the United Presbyterian Church. He was one of the primary promoters of the union of the United Presbyterian Church with the Free Church of Scotland, and he represented the United Presbyterians in the unification talks. After they joined in 1900, he moved to Free Church College (now

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 ...

), as professor of

apologetics Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...

and theology. He lectured widely in both Britain and the United States.

Views

Orr was a vocal critic of theological liberalism (of

Albrecht Ritschl Albrecht Ritschl (25 March 182220 March 1889) was a German Protestant theologian. Starting in 1852, Ritschl lectured on systematic theology. According to this system, faith was understood to be irreducible to other experiences, beyond the scop ...

especially) and helped establish

Christian fundamentalism Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and ...

. His lectures and writings upheld the doctrines of the virgin birth and

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

, and the

infallibility Infallibility refers to an inability to be wrong. It can be applied within a specific domain, or it can be used as a more general adjective. The term has significance in both epistemology and theology, and its meaning and significance in both fi ...

of the

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 ...

. In contrast to modern fundamentalists and his friend B.B. Warfield, he did not agree with the position of

Biblical inerrancy Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching"; or, at least, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact". Some equate inerrancy with biblical i ...

. Like Warfield, but also unlike modern Christian fundamentalists, he advocated a position which he called "

theistic evolution Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution) is a theological view that God creates through laws of nature. Its religious teachings are fully compatible with the findings of modern science, including biological ...

". Orr wrote that "evolution is coming to be recognized as but a new name for 'creation', only that the creative power now works from within, instead of, as in the old conception, in an external plastic fashion." In his book ''Revelation and Inspiration'' (1910), he wrote that evolution is not in conflict with the Christian theistic view of the world.Orr, James. (2002 edition). ''Revelation and Inspiration''. Regent College Publishing. p. 101.

Bibliography

* ''The

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

View of God and the World'' (1893
online version
* ''The Ritschlian Theology and the

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

Faith'' (1897) * ''Neglected Factors in the Study of the Early Progress of Christianity'' (1899) * ''The Progress of

Dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...

'' (1902) * ''

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...

'' (1903) * ''Ritschlianism; Expository and Critical Essays'' (1903) * ''New Testament

Apocryphal Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

Writings'' (London 1903);

Protevangelium of James The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James) is a second-century infancy gospel telling of the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary, her upbringing and marriage to Joseph, the journey of the couple to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, a ...

: on the birth of Mary , Gospel of Thomas: miracles of the infancy ,

Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (or The Infancy Gospel of Matthew) is a part of the New Testament apocrypha. In antiquity the text was called The Book About the Origin of the Blessed Mary and the Childhood of the Savior. Pseudo-Matthew is one of a g ...

Gospel of Nicodemus Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

Gospel of Peter The Gospel of Peter ( grc, κατά Πέτρον ευαγγέλιον, kata Petron euangelion), or the Gospel according to Peter, is an ancient text concerning Jesus Christ, only partially known today. It is considered a non-canonical gospel and w ...

Acts of Paul and Thecla The ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'' (''Acta Pauli et Theclae'') is an apocryphal story– Edgar J. Goodspeed called it a " religious romance"–of Paul the Apostle's influence on a young virgin named Thecla. It is one of the writings of the New Test ...

, The Falling Asleep of Mary. 182 pp. * ''God's Image in Man and its Defacement in Light of Modern Denials'' (1905) * ''Problem of 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 ...

Considered with Reference to Recent Criticism'' (1906) * ''The Bible under Trial. Apologetic Papers in View of Present Day Assaults on Holy Scripture'' (1907
online version
* ''The Virgin Birth of Christ'' Hodder and Stoughton, London (1907) * ''The

Resurrection of Jesus The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...

'' (1908) * ''Side-Lights on Christian Doctrine'' (1909) * ''Revelation and Inspiration'' (1910) * ''

Sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

as a Problem To-Day'' (1910) * ''The History and Literature of the

Early Church Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...

'' (1913) * "The Holy Scriptures and Modern Negations", "The Early Narratives of Genesis", "Science and Christian Faith", and "The Virgin Birth of Christ", in ''The Fundamentals: A testimony to the truth,'' R.A. Torrey and A.C. Dixon (eds) (1917
online version
* ''The

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia The ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' refers to two different versions of a Bible encyclopedia: a 1915 fundamentalist edition, and a 1979–1995 revised evangelical edition. The first version was published under the general editorship ...

'' (ed.) (1939)

Secondary Sources

# Coke, Tom S. “Reconsidering James Orr.” ''Reformed Journal'', vol. 30, no. 12, Dec. 1980, pp. 20–22. # Davies, William Walter. “The Battle of the Critics.” ''Methodist Review'', vol. 88, Sept. 1906, pp. 827–830. # Dorrien, Gary J. ''The Remaking of Evangelical Theology'' (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998). # Eyre-Todd, “Rev. James Orr.” In ''Who’s Who in Glasgow'' ''in 1909'' (Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1987). # Hoefel, Robert J. “B B Warfield and James Orr: A Study in Contrasting Approaches to Scripture.” ''Christian Scholar’s Review'', vol. 16, no. 1, Sept. 1986, pp. 40–52. # Hoefel, Robert J. ''The Doctrine of Inspiration in the Writings of James Orr and B.B. Warfield: A Study in Contrasting Approaches to Scripture'' (Ph.D. Diss.: Fuller Theological Seminary, 1983). # Livingstone, David N. “B B Warfield, the Theory of Evolution and Early Fundamentalism.” ''The Evangelical Quarterly'', vol. 58, no. 1, Jan. 1986, pp. 69–83. # McGrath, Gavin Basil. “James Orr’s Endorsement of Theistic Evolution.” ''Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith'', vol. 51, no. 2, June 1999, pp. 114–120. # Neely, Alan P. “James Orr and the Question of Inerrancy.” ''The Proceedings of the Conference on Biblical Inerrancy 1987'', 1987, pp. 261–272. # Schaff, Philip. “Orr, James.” In ''New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge'' (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1977). # Scorgie, Glen G. ''A Call for Continuity: The Theological Contributions of James Orr''. Mercer Univ Pr, 1988. # Scorgie, Glen G. “James Orr, Defender of the Church’s Faith.” ''Crux'', vol. 22, no. 3, Sept. 1986, pp. 22–27. # Sell, Alan P. F. ''Defending and Declaring the Faith: Some Scottish Examples, 1860–1920'' (Colorado: Helmers & Howard, 1987). # Shatzer, Jacob. “Theological Interpretation of Scripture and Evangelicals: An Apology for The Fundamentals.” ''Pro Ecclesia'', vol. 22, no. 1, Wint 2013, pp. 88–102. # Toon, Peter. “The Development of Doctrine: An Evangelical Perspective.” ''Reformed Journal'', vol. 23, no. 3, Mar. 1973, pp. 7–12. # Wright, David F. “Soundings in the Doctrine of Scripture in British Evangelicalism in the First Half of the Twentieth Century.” ''Tyndale Bulletin'', vol. 31, 1980, pp. 87–106. # Zaspel, Fred G. “B. B. Warfield on Creation and Evolution.” ''Themelios'', vol. 35, no. 2, July 2010, pp. 198–211. # Zorn, Raymond O. “The Christian View of God and the World.” Book Review. ''Mid-America Journal of Theology'', vol. 8, no. 2, Fall 1992, pp. 217–218.z

Notes

References

* Gary J. Dorien
''The Remaking of Evangelical Theology''
Westminster John Knox Press, 1998. * George Eyre-Todd

in ''Who's Who in Glasgow 1909''. * Jeff MacDonald

''Layman Online'', 26 May 2005. * Gavin Basil McGrath

''

Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith ''Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith'', subtitled ''Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation'', is the academic publication of the American Scientific Affiliation. Background The ASA's original constitution provided two goals for t ...

'' 51.2 (June 1999): 114-121. * Philip Schaff
"Orr, James"
''New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge'', 1953. * Glen G. Scorgie
''A Call for Continuity: The Theological Contribution of James Orr''
Regent College Publishing, 2004. ()

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Orr, James 1844 births 1913 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow Clergy from Glasgow Scottish Calvinist and Reformed theologians 20th-century Scottish historians Theistic evolutionists 19th-century Scottish historians Ministers of the United Presbyterian Church (Scotland) Ministers of the United Free Church of Scotland