James Wood (12 October 1820 – 17 March 1901) was a Scottish writer, editor, and

Free Church A free church is a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church does not define government policy, and a free church does not accept church theology or policy definitions from ...

minister.Stirling 1902, pp.vii–viii

Life

Born in Leith, Wood studied at the University of Edinburgh and was ordained as a minister of the

Free Church of Scotland Free Church of Scotland may refer to: * Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), seceded in 1843 from the Church of Scotland. The majority merged in 1900 into the United Free Church of Scotland; historical * Free Church of Scotland (since 1900), rema ...

, following the Disruption of 1843. His admiration for Thomas Carlyle and John Ruskin may have contributed to his failure to secure the ministry of a congregation. Instead, he earned a living as a writer and editor and spent most of his life in Edinburgh. Wood is described by P. J. E. Wilson as " that most conscientious of pedants". In his anonymous ''The Strait Gate'' (1881), Wood says of himself that he should not be classed with the High churchmen, the

Evangelicals 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 ...

, or the Broad churchmen. He had "no faith whatsoever" in the first group, "no true conception" of the second, and "a measure of sympathy" with the third, but added "…yet there are drawbacks which make it impossible for me to hail their movement with any warmth."

Publications

In 1867, Wood's ''Stories from Greek Mythology'' was published in London. Wood edited ''

Nuttall Nuttall may refer to: People * Nuttall (name) * Nuttall baronets Nature * Nuttall's oak, a fast-growing large deciduous oak tree native to North America * Nuttall's woodpecker, a species of woodpecker found in oak woodlands of California * Nutta ...

's Standard Dictionary'' and ''

The Nuttall Encyclopaedia ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. In 1881, he published anonymously ''The Strait Gate and Other Discourses, with a Lecture on Thomas Carlyle, by a Scotch Preacher'', and in 1882 made the authorized translation of Auguste Barth's ''Religions of India''.Auguste Barth, ''The Religions of India. Authorised Translation by Rev. J. Wood'' (London: Houghton Mifflin, 1882) In 1893, after working on it for three years, he published his ''

Dictionary of Quotations A quotation is the repetition of a sentence, phrase, or passage from speech or text that someone has said or written. In oral speech, it is the representation of an utterance (i.e. of something that a speaker actually said) that is introduced by ...

'', later renamed as ''Nuttall's Dictionary of Quotations''. He was also the author of Bagster & Sons' ''Helps to the Bible'' and a ''Carlyle School Reader''.

References

Sources

Citations

External links

* * * Scottish encyclopedists Scottish lexicographers Scottish translators Scottish editors 1820 births 1901 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People from Leith 19th-century Ministers of the Free Church of Scotland 19th-century British translators 19th-century lexicographers {{editor-stub