John Baillie (26 March 1886,

Gairloch Gairloch ( ; gd, Geàrrloch , meaning "Short Loch") is a village, civil parish and community on the shores of Loch Gairloch in Wester Ross, in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. A tourist destination in the summer months, Gairloch has a go ...

– 29 September 1960,

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) was a Scottish

theologian 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 ...

, a

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 brother of theologian

Donald Macpherson Baillie Donald Macpherson Baillie (1887 – 1954) was a Scottish theologian, ecumenist, and parish minister. Life Raised in the Calvinist tradition, Baillie studied at University of Edinburgh and then at the University of Marburg, where he was influe ...

Life

Son of Free Church minister John Baillie (1829–1891), and his wife, Annie MacPherson, he was born in the Free Church manse in Gairloch, Wester Ross, on 26 March 1886. A leading theologian, he held academic posts in the UK, USA, and Canada. His brother Donald Macpherson Baillie was Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of St. Andrews and his other brother Peter Baillie served as a missionary doctor at Jalna, India.The Baillie Project, University of Edinburgh Raised in the Calvinist tradition, Baillie studied divinity at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

. After graduating he undertook further studies at both

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

and

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

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and then went to teach in

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and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He gained a D.Litt. on the theory of religion from Edinburgh University in 1928 which formed the basis of a book published in the same year. He was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

from 1934 to 1959, serving as principal of New College and dean of the Faculty of Divinity from 1950 to 1956. He was

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the ministers and elders of the Church of Scotland, minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week i ...

in 1943. In 1958 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (D. theol. h. c.) by the University of Jena on the occasion of the university's fourth centenary. He was appointed a Chaplain in Ordinary to the King in 1947. Baillie wrote ''A Diary of Private Prayer'' (1936), regarded as a devotional classic. But his most important contribution to theology was an exploration of the relationship of the knowledge of God to spiritual and moral experience. He served alongside of John T. McNeill and Henry P. Van Dusen as a general editor of th
Library of Christian Classics
series, which includes modern translations of the writings of Christian theologians and thinkers such as

Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...

Calvin Calvin may refer to: Names * Calvin (given name) ** Particularly Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States * Calvin (surname) ** Particularly John Calvin, theologian Places In the United States * Calvin, Arkansas, a hamlet * Calvi ...

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and other reformers and early

church fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

. As Convener of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly's "Commission for the Interpretation of God's Will in the Present Crisis" ("The Baillie Commission"), reporting to the Assembly 1941 to 1945, Baillie helped the Church to think through its approach and mission to the post-war world.Secretariat for Evangelism (1954) ''Ecumenical Studies: Evangelism in Scotland'' Geneva: The World Council of Churches p. 55; John Baillie, 'Preface' (1945) ''God's Will for Church and Nation'' London: SCM Press, pp. 7–8. Shortly after his death in 1960, the series of

Gifford Lectures The Gifford Lectures () are an annual series of lectures which were established in 1887 by the will of Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford. Their purpose is to "promote and diffuse the study of natural theology in the widest sense of the term – in o ...

he had prepared for the 1961–2 academic year was read by John McIntyre and Thomas F. Torrance and published by Oxford University Press.

Family

The grave of Rev John Baillie, Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh

He met Florence Jewel Fowler (1893-1969) while he was in France during the First World War. They married at Leamington Spa in 1919. Their only child, Ian Fowler Baillie, was born in 1921. He is buried with his wife Florence Jewel Baillie in

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hil ...

near the southeast corner of the original cemetery close to the Usher memorial. The grave is marked by a pale pink granite cross.

Sources

* Nigel M. de S. et al., ''Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology'', pp. 693–698. T & T Clark, Edinburgh 1993. * John McIntyre
''Foreword''
in John Baillie
''The Sense of the Presence of God''
Oxford University Press, 1962 * George Newlands, "John and Donald Baillie" in Blackie, Nansie (2005) ''A Time for Trumpets: Scottish Church movers and shakers of the twentieth century'' Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press pp. 17–28. * Norbert Nail: ''John Baillie - Schotte, Pastor, Student 1909/11 in Jena und Marburg''. In: ''Studenten-Kurier'' 3/2017, pp. 16–18. https://www.uni-marburg.de/de/uniarchiv/inhalte-pdf/sk-2017-3-john-baillie.pdf

External links

Edinburgh University's Baillie projectThe Sense of the Presence of God
1961-2 Gifford Lectures, Edinburgh.
Online versions of some of his writings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baillie, John 1886 births 1960 deaths Scottish Calvinist and Reformed theologians 20th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Alumni of New College, Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Burials at the Grange Cemetery