John Caird (theologian)
John Caird | |
---|---|
Born | Greenock, Scotland | 15 December 1820
Died | 30 July 1898 Greenock, Scotland | (aged 77)
Office | Principal of the University of Glasgow (1873–1898) |
Spouse |
Isabella Glover (m. 1858) |
Relatives | Edward Caird (brother) |
Ecclesiastical career | |
Religion | Christianity (Presbyterian) |
Church | Church of Scotland |
Ordained | 1845 |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Glasgow |
Influences | G. W. F. Hegel |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Theology |
School or tradition | British idealism |
Institutions | University of Glasgow |
Notable works | An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (1880) |
Influenced |
John Caird[a] FRSE (1820–1898) was a Scottish theologian. He entered the Church of Scotland, of which he became one of the most eloquent preachers. He served as the Principal of the University of Glasgow from 1873 until 1898.
Life
He was born in Greenock on 15 December 1820, the son of John Caird of Caird and Co. and Janet Young. His younger brother was Edward Caird.
He was educated at Greenock Grammar School, and then attended the University of Glasgow (MA 1845).
After being a minister at Newton-on-Ayr, at Lady Yester's Church, Edinburgh (1847–1849), and at Errol, Perthshire (1849–1857), Caird was transferred to Park Church, Glasgow (1857–1862). He married Isabella Glover in 1858.
In 1862 he became Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow, and in 1873, following the death of Thomas Barclay,[1] became Principal of the university, a post he held for 26 years, until 1898.[2]
The University of Glasgow made him a Doctor of Divinity in 1860 and the University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1884.
A sermon on Religion in Common Life, preached before Queen Victoria, made him known throughout the Protestant world. He wrote An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (1880), and Spinoza (1888).[3]
Caird delivered the 1892–1896 Gifford Lectures at the University of Glasgow, entitled The Fundamental Ideas of Christianity.
In 1897 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He died on 30 July 1898 in Greenock and is buried in Greenock Cemetery.[2]
Notes
References
- ^ http://www.gashe.ac.uk:443/isaar/P0348.html
- ^ a b http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf
- ^ Bayne, Thomas Wilson (1901). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource.
External links
- Works by or about John Caird at Internet Archive
- Biography and Summary of Gifford Lectures by Dr Brannon Hancock
- Use dmy dates from November 2012
- 1820 births
- 1898 deaths
- Principals of the University of Glasgow
- Scottish Calvinist and Reformed theologians
- Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- 19th-century Scottish people
- People from Greenock
- People educated at Greenock Academy
- Alumni of the University of Glasgow
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- Scottish philosophers
- Philosophers of religion
- Ministers of the Church of Scotland
- Spinoza scholars