Andrew Martin Fairbairn, FBA (4 November 18389 February 1912) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

, born near

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Education

Fairbairn was educated at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

, and at the

Evangelical Union Theological Academy Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. He entered the

Congregational church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

ministry and held pastorates at

Bathgate Bathgate ( or , ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Linlithgow, Livingston, and West Calder. A number of villages fall under ...

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and at

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Educator

From 1877 to 1886 he was principal of Airedale College,

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

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, a post which he gave up to become the first principal of

Mansfield College, Oxford Mansfield College, Oxford is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The college was founded in Birmingham in 1838 as a college for Nonconformist students. It moved to Oxford in 1886 and was renamed Mansfield Coll ...

. In the transference to the University of Oxford of the existing

Spring Hill College, Birmingham Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

, he took a considerable part, and he exercised influence not only over generations of his own students (most famous of which is probably

Peter Taylor Forsyth Peter Taylor Forsyth, also known as P. T. Forsyth (1848–1921), was a Scottish theologian. Biography The son of a postman, Forsyth studied at the University of Aberdeen and then in University of Göttingen, Göttingen (under Albrecht Ritsc ...

), but also over a large number of undergraduates in the university generally. He was granted the degree of M.A. by a decree of Convocation, and in January 1903 received an honorary Doctor of Literature (D.Litt) degree.From January 1903 he was a lecturer in Classical Archaeology. He was also awarded Doctor of Divinity degrees from

and

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

universities, and a Doctor of Laws from the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

. His activities were not, however, limited to his college work. He delivered the Muir lectures at Edinburgh University (1878–1882), the Gifford lectures at Aberdeen (1892–1894), the Lyman Beecher lecture at Yale (1891–1892), and the Haskell lectures in India (1898–1899). He was a member of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education in 1894–1895, and of the Royal Commission on the Endowments of the Welsh Church in 1906. In 1883 he was chairman of the

Congregational Union of England and Wales The Congregational Union of England and Wales brought together churches in England and Wales in the Congregational tradition between 1831 and 1966. Background The Congregational churches emerged from the Puritan movement, each church operating ...

. He resigned his position at Mansfield College in the spring of 1909. He was a prolific writer on theological subjects.

Reception

William Boothby Selbie writes in ''The Life of Andrew Martin Fairbairn'':

Among the subjects which occupied his attention in the years 1902 and 1903 were two articles for the second volume of the ''Cambridge Modern History''... The first of these was on "Calvin and the Reformed Church," and the second on "Tendencies of European Thought in the Age of the Reformation." In Calvin Fairbairn had a subject altogether to his mind, and his study of him is among the best things he ever wrote.William Boothby Selbie
''The Life of Andrew Martin Fairbairn''
Hodder and Stoughton, 1914. p. 403

Works

* ''Studies in the Philosophy of Religion and History'' (1876) * ''Studies in the Life of Christ'' (1881) * ''Religion in History and in Modern Life'' (1884; rev. 1893) * ''Christ in Modern Theology'' (1893) * ''Christ in the Centuries'' (1893) * ''Catholicism Roman and Anglican'' (1899) * ''Philosophy of the Christian Religion'' (1902)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairbairn, Andrew Martin 1838 births 1912 deaths Scottish scholars and academics Scottish Christian theologians Academics from Edinburgh Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Yale Divinity School alumni Scottish Congregationalists Principals of Mansfield College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy