William Barclay

CBE
Born5 December 1907
Wick, Caithness, Scotland
Died24 January 1978 (aged 70)
EmployerUniversity of Glasgow
Websitehttp://www.william-barclay.com/

William Barclay CBE (5 December 1907 – 24 January 1978) was a Scottish author, radio and television presenter, Church of Scotland minister, and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow. He wrote a popular set of Bible commentaries on the New Testament that sold 1.5 million copies.[1]

Life

Barclay's father was a bank manager. Barclay attended Dalziel High School in Motherwell and then studied classics at the University of Glasgow from 1925 to 1929,[2] before studying divinity. He studied at the University during the year 1932-33.[3] After being ordained in the Church of Scotland in 1933,[4] he was minister at Trinity Church in Renfrew from 1933 to 1946, afterwards returning to the University of Glasgow as lecturer in the New Testament from 1947, and as Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism from 1963.[3]

Religious views

Barclay described himself theologically as a "liberal evangelical."[1] Barclay expressed his personal views in his A Spiritual Autobiography (1977), and Clive L. Rawlins elaborates in William Barclay: prophet of goodwill: the authorised biography (1998). They included:

The journalist James Douglas suggested Barclay was also "reticent about the inspiration of Scripture, critical of the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, and given to views about the virgin birth and miracles which conservatives would find either heretical or imprecise."[1]

Works

While professor, he decided to dedicate his life to "making the best biblical scholarship available to the average reader". The eventual result was the Daily Study Bible, a set of 17 commentaries on the New Testament, published by Saint Andrew Press, the Church of Scotland's publishing house. Despite the series name, these commentaries do not set a program of regular study. Rather, they go verse by verse through Barclay's own translation of the New Testament, listing and examining every possible interpretation known to Barclay and providing all the background information he considered possibly relevant, all in layman's terms. The commentaries were fully updated with the help of William Barclay's son, Ronnie Barclay, in recent years and they are now known as the New Daily Study Bible series.

The 17 volumes of the set were all best-sellers and continue to be so to this day. A companion set giving a similar treatment to the Old Testament was endorsed but not written by Barclay. In 2008 Saint Andrew Press began taking the content of the New Daily Study Bibles and producing pocket-sized thematic titles called Insights. The Insights books are introduced by contemporary authors, broadcasters and scholars, including Nick Baines and Diane-Louise Jordan.[8]

Barclay wrote many other popular books, always drawing on scholarship but written in a highly accessible style. In The Mind of Jesus (1960) he states that his aim was "to make the figure of Jesus more vividly alive, so that we may know him better and love him more".

Barclay's books on the gospels and Jesus include:

Barclay's books on New Testament studies include:

Barclay also wrote two books on Old Testament passages:

Barclay's theological introductions include:

Barclay's other books include:

References

  1. ^ a b c d J. D. Douglas, "Barclay, William (1907–78)," ed. Martin Davie et al., New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic (London; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press; InterVarsity Press, 2016), 103.
  2. ^ A man and his God intro by Allan Galloway to The Lord Is My Shepherd by William Barclay p1-8
  3. ^ a b Cross, F. L., and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
  4. ^ Martin, Ralph P. (2007). "Barclay, William". In McKim, Donald K. (ed.). Dictionary of major biblical interpreters (2nd ed.). Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-8308-2927-9.
  5. ^ William Barclay: A Spiritual Autobiography, pg 65–67, William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 1977.
  6. ^ Clive L. Rawlins William Barclay: prophet of goodwill : the authorized biography Fount, 1998 p83
  7. ^ Barclay, William (2001). The Gospel of Luke. P. 163. ISBN 0664237797.
  8. ^ Barclay, William (2009). Insights: Easter. Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press. ISBN 978-0-7152-0860-1.

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