The PuritanBoard - View Single Post - The Doctrine of the Church in Scottish Theology -- John Macpherson

VirginiaHuguenot · #3 (**permalink**) 01-19-2008, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Ritchie

Quote:

Originally Posted by VirginiaHuguenot

The Doctrine of the Church in Scottish Theology (1903) by John Macpherson has been reprinted (November 2007) and is available at Amazon.

Was that man orthodox?

I'll proffer an opinion by Rev. Winzer from a previous thread: "Macpherson tried to rewrite reformed orthodoxy to a certain extent." And it is edited by C.G. M'Crie, grandson of Thomas M'Crie the Elder, who was more liberal than his father and grandfather.

From the Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, p. 536:

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MacPherson was thoroughly familiar with the German theology of his century, and translated many volumes into English...His own theology, set out in his Christian Dogmatics (E, 1898), was an Amyraldian...type of Reformed theology, defending the doctrines of total depravity, unconditional election and substitutionary atonement. He propounded a realist view of the relation between Adam and mankind, and held that the sources of Christian doctrine were (in descending order) Scripture, the ecumenical creeds and the Christian consciousness.

Macpherson wrote a commentary on the Westminster Confession that I added to the links manager, and edited James Fraster's famous treatise on sanctification.

Nevertheless, this is an important work worth reading. It was one of the "Chalmers Lectures." To quote from the Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology again (ibid):

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His Doctrine of the Church in Scottish Theology (Chalmers Lectures,* E, 1903) is still the standard work on the subject and his edition of the Westminster Confession (Handbooks for Bible Classes, E, 1881) was frequently reprinted well into the twentieth century.

The Following User Says Thank You to VirginiaHuguenot For This Useful Post:
Daniel Ritchie (01-19-2008)