William Barclay (theologian)

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William Barclay (born December 5, 1907 in Wick , † January 24, 1978 in Glasgow ) was a Scottish author , publicist, clergyman of the Church of Scotland and professor of theology and Bible criticism at the University of Glasgow .

Life

Barclay was the only child of his parents, his father was a bank manager at the Bank of Scotland and lay minister at the Free Church of Scotland . The son himself preached for the first time when he was twelve. He attended Dalziel High School in Motherwell and then studied Classical Philology at Trinity College, University of Glasgow from 1925 to 1929 before studying theology. In 1931 his mother died of cancer. From 1933 to 1946 he was a clergyman at Renfrew Trinity Church , a parish formed by shipbuilding craft families from Renfrew in the Renfrewshire Council Area . Here he experienced the unemployment that followed the Great Depression and the hardship and destruction of World War II. And he learned to preach more intelligibly from common people. He then returned in 1947 to teach the New Testament at the University of Glasgow. There he became a professor in 1963 , where he taught until September 1974. In addition, he was known and appreciated for his informative Bible commentaries on the New Testament and his speeches on radio and television, for which he was also publicly honored. After his retirement, Lady Collins of Collins Publishers provided him with the means to publish a study Bible on the Old Testament.

Private

Barclay was married to Katherine. They had a daughter, a son, and an adopted daughter. Her daughter drowned in a boat accident in the Irish Sea. He was almost deaf, had a photographic memory, and he died of complications from Parkinson's disease.

theology

Barclay described himself as a "liberal evangelical". Some of his personal views, as expressed in his book A Spiritual Autobiography (1977) and also reflected in Clive L. Rawlins' William Barclay: Prophet of Goodwill: the Authorized Biography (1998), were:

  • Skepticism towards the Trinity : for example in the utterance "Nowhere does the New Testament identify Jesus with God." On the other hand, Barclay writes: "To the certainty that he (man) it has to do with God himself in Jesus, he only comes when Jesus opens his eyes. "
  • Belief in the Apocatastasis : In his autobiography he wrote: “I am a staunch universalist. I believe that in the end all people will be united in the love of God. ”(“ I am a convinced universalist. I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God. ”)
  • Pacifism : "War is mass murder".
  • Partly rationalized interpretations of the miracles of Jesus: It is not a question of understanding all events literally, but of recognizing their transferred meanings and their deeper meaning.

Publications

Barclay wrote a total of 60 books. While he was a professor, Barclay decided to devote his life to “making the best biblical scholarship available to the average reader”. The result of this effort was the Daily Study Bible , a set of 17 commentaries on the New Testament published by Saint Andrew Press , the publisher of the Church of Scotland.

Despite its name, this series does not provide a program for regular studies. However, the commentaries go through Barclay's own translation of the New Testament verse by verse, listing and examining every possible interpretation Barclay knows, and providing any background information he considers relevant. All of this is written in a language that can also be understood by laypeople.

The 17 volumes in the series were all bestsellers and will continue to do so well after his death. They were also translated into German and published by Aussaat-Verlag from 1968 to 1974 . In recent years, with the help of William Barclay's son, Ronnie Barclay, the series has been fully updated and is now known as the New Daily Study Bible .

In 2008, Saint Andrew Press began breaking up the contents of the New Daily Study Bibles and putting them into paperback books with thematic titles called Insights . The Insights books have been introduced by contemporary authors, moderators, and scholars, including Nicholas Baines and Diane-Louise Jordan .

Barclay wrote many other popular science books that are always scientific but written in an easily accessible style. In his book The Mind of Jesus (1960) he stated that his goal was "to make the figure of Jesus more vividly alive, so that we can get to know him better and love him more" we may know him better and love him more ”).

The following works by Barclay have been translated into German:

  • The All-Sufficient Christ: Studies in Paul's Letter to the Colossians (Eng. Christ is sufficient. For the study of the Colossians , Oncken , Kassel 1966; Ekelmann , East Berlin 1972)
  • Turning to God (German conversion in the New Testament , R. Brockhaus , Wuppertal 1966)
  • New Testament Words (German from the vocabulary of the New Testament , Lebendiges Wort, Augsburg 1966)
  • Letters to the Seven Churches (dt. This tells the Risen The message of the seven letters. , Oncken, Kassel 1967; Ekelmann, East Berlin 1970)
  • The Daily Study Bible (17 volumes; German interpretation of the New Testament , sowing, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1968–74, etc., most recently 2006)
  • The Plain Man Looks at the Lord's Prayer ( how should we pray? An introduction to the Lord's prayer , Oncken, Kassel 1968)
  • Many Witnesses, One Lord (German: Many Witnesses, One Lord. Wealth and Diversity of the Gospel Testimony , Oncken, Kassel 1968; Ekelmann, East Berlin 1970)
  • Epistle to the Hebrews (Eng. Raises the slack hands. An introduction to the Letter to the Hebrews , Oncken, Kassel 1968)
  • The Making of the Bible (Eng. God's word in human hands. The history of the biblical writings , Oncken, Kassel 1968)
  • The Plain Man Looks at the Beatitudes (Eng. Rejoice and rejoice. A guide to understanding the Beatitudes , Oncken, Kassel 1968; You are allowed to rejoice. Newly encountered the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount , Ekelmann, East Berlin 1985)
  • Flesh and Spirit: An Examination of Galatians 5: 19-23 (German meat or spirit. Word study from Galatians 5: 19-23 , Lebendiges Wort, Augsburg / Berlin 1968)
  • The Promise of the Spirit (Eng. He will give you a helping hand. The biblical testimony of the Holy Spirit , Oncken, Kassel 1968; Ekelmann, East Berlin 1973)
  • The King and the Kingdom (German: The King and His Kingdom , Oncken, Kassel 1970)

Further, untranslated works (selection):

  • The Apostles' Creed
  • The Parables of Jesus
  • The Ten Commandments
  • Discovering Jesus
  • At the Last Trumpet: Jesus Christ and the End of Time
  • The Mind of Jesus
  • The Mind of St. Paul
  • The Gospels and Acts: Matthew, Mark and Luke
  • The Gospels and Acts: John and Acts
  • A Spiritual Autobiography
  • A Beginner's Guide to the New Testament
  • God's Young Church
  • The Old Law and the New Law
  • And He Had Compassion: The Miracles of Jesus (Judson Press)
  • Insights (currently 8 titles)

Individual evidence

  1. A man and his God , Introduction by Allan Galloway to William Barclay, The Lord Is My Shepherd , pp. 1-8.
  2. Dr. Ronald Falconer: Looking Back: Barclay Retires , Life and Work The Magazine of The Church of Scotland, Edinburgh 2020 (English)
  3. ^ H. McEachern: William Barclay, Remarkable Communicator , website preaching.com
  4. ^ JD Douglas: Barclay, William (1907-78) , in: Martin Davie et al. (Ed.), New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic , InterVarsity Press, London / Downers Grove, IL 2016, p. 103.
  5. William Barclay: A Spiritual Autobiography , Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 1977, p. 50, quoted in Anthony Buzzard, Charles F. Hunting, The Doctrine of the Trinity: Christianity's Self-Inflicted Wound , 1999.
  6. ^ William Barclay: Johannesevangelium , Volume 2 (interpretation of the New Testament in 17 volumes), Aussaat-Verlag 1970, p. 131.
  7. ^ William Barclay: A Spiritual Autobiography , Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 1977, pp. 65-67.
  8. ^ Clive L. Rawlins: William Barclay: Prophet of Goodwill: the Authorized Biography , Fount 1998, p. 83.
  9. Wayne Jackson: The Enigmatic William Barclay , The Enigmatic William Barclay , article in the Christian online magazine Christian Courier (English)
  10. ^ William Barclay: Insights: Easter . Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh 2009, ISBN 9780715208601 .

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