Sir George Adam Smith (1856-1942) was one of the leading Old Testament
scholars in the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Scottish
church. As Free Church minister of Queen's Cross, Aberdeen (1882-92),
Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature at the Free Church
College, Glasgow (1892-1910), and Principal of Aberdeen University
(1910-1935) he popularized modern criticism of the Old Testament. He was
determined to show how such an approach to the Bible was compatible with
evangelical faith, a position that never sat easily with the
confessional position of the Scottish church, and the story of Smith's
life is an investigation into the relationship between biblical
scholarship and evangelical faith. In this new biography, Campbell has
made extensive use of primary material, including Smith's letters and
journals, to fill a gap in the literature on events within the Scottish
church in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This critical
biography will be of use both to students of Scottish church history and
students of Old Testament criticism, as well as raising issues that are
of continuing importance for all who believe in confessional
Christianity as well as in scholarly study of the biblical text. ""Dr.
Campbell sheds light on a number of issues: the often complex
relationship between scholarship and ecclesiastical commitment; the
subtle nature of the negotiation between higher criticism and
confessionalism in church life; the response of the church to the social
and cultural upheavals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries; and the perennially vexatious question of the relationship
between heartfelt piety and hard-headed theological work."" --Carl R.
Trueman, Westminster Theological Seminary ""lain Campbell's compelling
study assesses the life and contributions of the remarkable George Adam
Smith who, in one handsome countenance, united the warm heart of a
village vicar, the razor sharp mind of a world-class critical scholar,
the interpersonal skill and grace of a diplomat, the zeal of an
evangelist. Reading this story, one is moved to pray for another cycle
of such 'Princes of the Church' to arise in our own day!"" --Thomas R.
Corts, Samford University ""We have long needed an intellectual
biography of George Adam Smith, a hugely influential figure in church
and academy from the 1880s to the 1930s. In this revision of Dr.
Campbell's PhD thesis, a vital part of the history of biblical
scholarship in Scotland has at last been told."" --Alasdair I. Macleod,
Minister, St Andrews Free Church of Scotland, formerly Professor of
Apologetics and Pastoral Theology, Free Church College, Edinburgh, UK
Iain D. Campbell is Free Church minister in the district of Back, on the
Isle of Lewis. He ministered previously on the Isle of Skye. He holds
degrees from the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London and
trained for the ministry at the Free Church College. He is married to
Anne, a teacher, and they have three children. He has previously
published The Doctrine of Sin and The Gospel According to Ruth.
