Trinity College, Glasgow,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, is the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

's College at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. It provides special supervision of candidates for the ministry through a Principal (appointed by the

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivray, ...

) and a College Council. The college is the official channel of liaison between the

, the

, and the

United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; , ) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and the Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), majority of the 19th-cen ...

. The current principal is Doug Gay.

History

The

Disruption of 1843 The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of Sc ...

marked a schism in the

, resulting in the creation of the Free Church of Scotland. The Free Church established three colleges or seminaries of its own, detached from the universities, for the education of its ministers. As well as its Glasgow college, the other two colleges were

New College, Edinburgh New College is a historic building at the The University of Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh which houses the university's School of Divinity. It is one of the largest and most renowned centres for studies in Theology and Religious studies, R ...

and

Christ's College, Aberdeen Christ's College was one of three colleges in Scotland founded by the Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900), Free Church of Scotland for the training of ministers following the Disruption of 1843. The other two were New College, Edinburgh and Trini ...

. The Glasgow College, funded by local subscription, was established in 1856. It was a multi-disciplinary institution of considerable reputation, existing outside the University of Glasgow's Faculty of Divinity. In 1872

Thomas Martin Lindsay Thomas Martin Lindsay FRSE (1843–1914) was a Scottish historian, professor and principal of the Free Church College, Glasgow. He wrote chiefly on church history, his major works including ''Luther and the German Reformation'' (1900), and ''A Hi ...

was appointed Professor of

church history 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 side of t ...

, and he became principal of the college in 1902. Later, in 1930, following the reunion of the churches and theological teaching facilities, the Glasgow Church college was renamed "Trinity College". After the reunion of the main Scottish

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

churches in 1929–30, the two teaching facilities in the university and the Church College were reintegrated. After 1976, when the Church-owned Trinity College buildings at

Park Circus Park Circus is a neighbourhood of south Kolkata in West Bengal, India. Geography Police district Karaya police station is in the South-east division of Kolkata Police. Karaya Women Police Station, at the same address, has jurisdiction ov ...

were finally vacated, all teaching of theology took place in the university Divinity Faculty. Accordingly, while Trinity College still exists, it is a body without walls. On 2 November 2006, Trinity College celebrated its 150th anniversary with a gathering of some 250 alumni and friends.trinitycollege150
at divinity.gla.ac.uk Its 155th anniversary celebrations took place on 4 November 2011.

Notable faculty

Teachers in the pre-1930 College included Alexander Balmain Bruce, James Denney,

George Adam Smith :''Note in particular that this George Smith is to be distinguished from George Smith (Assyriologist) (1840–1876) who researched in some overlapping areas.'' Sir George Adam Smith (19 October 1856 – 3 March 1942) was a Scottish th ...

James Moffatt James Moffatt (4 July 1870, Glasgow – 27 June 1944, New York City) was a Scottish theologian and graduate of the University of Glasgow. Moffatt trained at the Free Church College, Glasgow, and was a practising minister at the United Free Ch ...

, Henry Drummond, and James Orr. In the modern era, in the reunited faculty, notable teachers have included

John MacQuarrie John Macquarrie (1919–2007) was a Scottish-born theology, theologian, philosophy, philosopher and Anglican priest. He was the author of ''Principles of Christian Theology'' (1966) and ''Jesus Christ in Modern Thought'' (1991). Timothy Bradshaw ...

, William H.C. Frend, William Barclay,

John Zizioulas John Zizioulas (; ; 10 January 1931 – 2 February 2023) was a Greek Orthodox bishop who served as the Metropolitan of Pergamon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople from 1986 until his death in 2023. He was one of the most influent ...

, Robert Davidson

George Newlands George McLeod Newlands is a Scottish theologian widely published in the fields of modern systematic theology, Christology, emancipatory theology, and the history of Christian thought. He is Emeritus Professor of Divinity, Glasgow, Professor of D ...

, John Riches, Heather Walton (theologian) Charlotte Methuen (Church Historian) . The former clerk was

A. K. M. Adam Andrew Keith Malcolm Adam (born September 10, 1957), known as A. K. M. Adam, is a biblical scholar, theologian, author, priest, technologist and blogger. He is Tutor in New Testament and Greek at St. Stephen's House at Oxford University. He is a ...

. The current clerk is Mark Johnston.

References

External links

Trinity College, Glasgow

University of Glasgow webpage on Trinity College

University of Glasgow webpage on Trinity College's Library
{{authority control Schools of the University of Glasgow Church of Scotland Bible colleges, seminaries and theological colleges in Scotland Universities and colleges established in 1856 Category A listed buildings in Glasgow 1856 establishments in Scotland Hillhead

History

Notable faculty

Archives

Further reading

References

External links