John Macquarrie; distinguished theologian
Hyfler/Rosner
Telegraph 30/05/2007
The Reverend Professor John Macquarrie, who died on
Monday aged 87, was one of the best known and most
influential theologians of his time; he began life as a
Scottish Presbyterian and taught for some years at Glasgow
University, but during his time as Professor of Systematic
Theology at the Union Theology Seminary in New York he
became an Anglican and was for 16 years Lady Margaret
Professor of Divinity at Oxford.
A prolific writer with more than 20 books to his
credit, Macquarrie was a very successful mediator between
the academic world and the parishes and although his
theology was by no means conservative, he retained a deep
commitment to the traditional practices of the church.
This inspired confidence among many who feared that
modern theology was undermining the basis of the Christian
faith itself.
An Oxford chair linked to a canonry of Christ Church,
and a world-wide reputation, did nothing to spoil his homely
and friendly style. He retained the best traits of the
Scottish parish minister he had once been and was revered by
his pupils whose careers he followed and furthered until the
end of his life.
Macquarrie's own special interest for many years was
the forging of a link between existentialist philosophy and
Christian theology in the expectation that this would
produce a credible expression of faith for the modern mind.
As a young scholar his fluency in German took him into
the sphere of existentialism long before it had entered the
British theological scene, and he played a significant part
in its importion. His translation into English of
Heidegger's Being and Truth (1962) introduced the German
philosopher to a much larger audience, and two earlier
books, An Existentialist Theology (1955) and The Scope of
Demythologising (1960), drew the attention of the
English-speaking world to the work of the German theologian
Rudolf Bultmann. Like Bultmann, he had for a time served as
an army chaplain - an experience which led both men to
perceive the urgency of finding more contemporary
expressions of faith.
In Twentieth Century Religious Thoughts (1963) and
Principles of Christian Theology (1966) Macquarrie attempted
such an expression in two major works which ran to several
editions and were widely read by clergy and students of all
traditions. By this time he was being greatly influenced by
the work of Karl Rahner, the German Roman Catholic
theologian, and John Knox, an American New Testament
scholar. Just how successful his attempt to combine
existentialism and Catholic Christianity proved to be is
still a matter of debate in theological circles.
A common view is that he scored a highly commendable
"near miss", but several generations of students owe a debt
of gratitude to Macquarrie for helping them to understand
and express their beliefs in language and thought forms that
did no violence to their intellect. God Talk (1967),
published in the wake of Bishop John Robinson's
controversial book Honest to God, was also very influential
at the time and God and Secularity, published in the same
year, marked his return to a more orthodox position.
In Search of Deity (1984), which were his Gifford
Lectures, and Jesus Christ in Modern Thought (1990), another
major work, indicated however that he was not prepared to
give up the quest for an irresistible contemporary theology,
and several of his smaller books, Paths in Spirituality
(1972), The Concept of Peace (1973), Christian Unity and
Christian Diversity (1975), and Theology, Church and
Ministry showed a distinguished theologian tackling some of
the lesser practical issues facing the church.
John ("Hugh") Macquarrie was born at Renfrew on June
27 1919, where his father was a pattern maker in the
shipyards. His paternal grandfather had been a Gaelic
speaker from Islay who had come to Clydeside in search of
work.
His parents, who married in 1914, had had their first
son die, and young John was not expected to survive for
several weeks after his arrival.
But he recovered, and went from Paisley Grammar School
to Glasgow University, where he took a First in Mental
Philosophy and stayed on to complete a bachelors degree in
Divinity. After a brief spell as an assistant parish
minister in the Church of Scotland, he joined the Royal Army
Chaplains' Department on a three-year commission when the
Second World War was ending, but stayed on for many more
years as a Territorial Army chaplain, receiving his TD in
1962.
On leaving full-time Army service in 1948 he became
parish minister of St Ninian's Church, Brechin, where his
combination of pastoral sensitivity and scholarly sermons
attracted large congregations. By this time, however, he was
marked out for an academic career and from 1953-62 was a
lecturer at Glasgow University.
Soon his work on German philosophy and theology was
noted and when the prestigious chair of Systematic Theology
at the Union Theological Seminary in New York fell vacant in
1962 Macquarrie was appointed.
The international scene and an introduction to the
American Episcopal Church in New York opened his eyes to the
treasures of the Catholic element in Christianity and in
1965 he was ordained deacon, then priest, in the Anglican
Church. Thereafter the radical element in his thinking was
tempered by the influence of the open, yet more
conservative, Anglican theological tradition. When in 1991
the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury said, in an
unguarded moment, that those opposed to the ordination of
women were heretics, he received a magisterial rebuke from
Macquarrie, who was not himself opposed to women priests.
In 1970 he was persuaded to leave New York for Oxford
where he had many fruitful years, particularly with bright
postgraduate students, and was a very congenial member of
the chapter of Christ Church Cathedral. To his Glasgow D
Litt and Oxford DD he added many honorary degrees and was in
constant demand as a visiting professor.
He was elected to the British Academy in 1984. Yet he
was always ready to accept an invitation to preach in an
Oxfordshire village church or to give a paper to a group of
parish clergymen. His High Anglicanism took him easily on to
the governing bodies of Pusey House and St Stephen's House,
Oxford, and he was a consultant at the Lambeth Conferences
of 1968 and 1978.
Formal retirement did little to halt his work and he
continued to publish extensively. A new edition of Mary for
All Christians (1991) was issued in 2001, and he wrote On
Being a Theologian in 1999 and Stubborn Theological
Questions in 2003. Two Worlds Are Ours: an introduction to
Christian mysticism appeared the following year.
He is survived by his wife Jenny, and by two sons and
a daughter.