James Wood (12 October 1820 – 17 March 1901) was a Scottish writer, editor, and

Free Church A free church is any Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church neither defines government policy, nor accept church theology or policy definitions from the government. A f ...

minister.Stirling 1902, pp.vii–viii

Life

Born in

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

, Wood studied 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 ...

and was ordained as a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, following the

Disruption of 1843 The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of Sc ...

. His admiration for

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

and

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

may have contributed to his failure to secure the ministry of a congregation. Instead, he earned a living as a writer and editor and spent most of his life in Edinburgh. Wood is described by P. J. E. Wilson as " that most conscientious of pedants". In his anonymous ''The Strait Gate'' (1881), Wood says of himself that he should not be classed with the

High church A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...

men, the

Evangelicals Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of the Christian g ...

, or the

Broad church Broad church is latitudinarian churchmanship in the Church of England in particular and Anglicanism in general, meaning that the church permits a broad range of opinion on various issues of Anglican doctrine. In the American Episcopal Churc ...

men. He had "no faith whatsoever" in the first group, "no true conception" of the second, and "a measure of sympathy" with the third, but added "…yet there are drawbacks which make it impossible for me to hail their movement with any warmth."

Publications

In 1867, Wood's ''Stories from Greek Mythology'' was published in London. Wood edited '' Nuttall's Standard Dictionary'' and ''

The Nuttall Encyclopaedia ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

''. In 1881, he published anonymously ''The Strait Gate and Other Discourses, with a Lecture on Thomas Carlyle, by a Scotch Preacher'', and in 1882 made the authorized translation of Auguste Barth's ''Religions of India''.Auguste Barth, ''The Religions of India. Authorised Translation by Rev. J. Wood'' (London: Houghton Mifflin, 1882) In 1893, after working on it for three years, he published his '' Dictionary of Quotations'', later renamed as ''Nuttall's Dictionary of Quotations''. He was also the author of

Bagster & Sons Samuel Bagster the elder (26 December 1772 – 28 March 1851) was the founder of the publishing firm of ''Bagster & Sons''. Early life Samuel Bagster was born on 26 December 1772, the second son of George and Mary Bagster, of St. Pancras. He ...

' ''Helps to the Bible'' and a ''Carlyle School Reader''.

References

Sources

Citations

External links

* * * Scottish encyclopedists Scottish lexicographers Scottish editors 1820 births 1901 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People from Leith 19th-century ministers of the Free Church of Scotland 19th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers 19th-century Scottish translators 19th-century British lexicographers {{editor-stub