John Macquarrie

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The Reverend Canon John Macquarrie is a Scottish theologian and philosopher.

He was born on 27 June 1919 in Renfrew, Scotland (on the River Clyde, approximately six miles from Glasgow) into a devout Presbyterian family (his father was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland) with strong Gaelic roots.

Educated at Paisley Grammar School, he read Philosophy at the University of Glasgow under the distinguished scholar Charles Arthur Campbell (M.A. 1940), followed by a degree in Theology (B.D. 1943).

He enlisted in the British Army and served from 1943-48. Ordained in 1945, he served in the Royal Army Chaplains Department 1945-48.

After demobilization he served as a parish minister in the Church of Scotland at St Ninian's Church, Brechin (1948-53).

He returned to the University of Glasgow to study for a Ph. D., which he was awarded in 1954, while serving as lecturer in Systematic Theology at Trinity College. His supervisor was Ian Henderson, who despite having been a pupil of Karl Barth at Basle, was theologically more closely aligned with his disputant Rudolf Bultmann.

In 1962 Macquarrie was appointed Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary, New York. During his time in the United States Macquarrie became a member of the Anglican Communion; he had long been attracted to the Anglican Church, but in deference to his family's feelings and their strong Presbyterian roots maintained his worship in the Church of Scotland. He was ordained deacon and priest in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America in 1965. He was ordained priest by the Bishop of New York on June 16, 1965, and the next day (the Feast of Corpus Christi) he celebrated his first Eucharist at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, in New York City.

He was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford and Canon Residentiary of Christ Church, Oxford from 1970 until 1986. On retirement he continued to live in Oxford and was appointed Professor Emeritus and Canon Emeritus. Since 1996 he has been Martin Heidegger Professor of Philosophical Theology at the Graduate Theological Foundation in the United States.

Macquarrie was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 1962. In 1964 the University of Glasgow conferred the degree of Doctor of Letters on him and in 1969 the university awarded him the degree of Doctor of Divinity honoris causa. On his appointment to the Lady Margaret chair at Oxford he incepted as a Master of Arts. In 1981 he became a Doctor of Divinity of the University of Oxford and in 1984 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. He has also received the honorary degrees of Doctor of Sacred Theology from the University of the South (1967) and the General Theological Seminary (1968), Doctor of Divinity from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest (1981) and the University of Dayton (1994), and Doctor of Canon Law from Nashotah House (1986).

He was Gifford Lecturer 1983-84, lecturing on the topic In Search of Deity.

Macquarrie can be safely categorized as both an existentialist and a systematic theologian. His most important philosophical influence is the work of Martin Heidegger, and Macquarrie remains one of the most important commentators and explainers of Heidegger's work. Macquarrie is also perhaps the most important English-language expositor on the theological and philosophical work of Rudolf Bultmann.

Among Macquarrie's most widely read books are his Existentialism, meant as an introduction to the subject, and what is perhaps his masterpiece: Principles of Christian Theology, a work of systematic theology that aims both to harmonize existentialism and orthodox Christian thought and to offer a highly-intellectualized apology of the Christian faith. Macquarrie's work is characterized by a remarkable even handedness to all sides and viewpoints, and although not readily accessible to those without a good background in philosophy, his writing is engaging and often witty - at least judged by the standards of existentialism and systematic theology.

[edit] Further reading

An excellent biography of Macquarrie's life and thought is Eugene Thomas Long's Existence, Being, and God: An Introduction to the Philosophical Theology of John Macquarrie (ISBN 0-913729-08-6), 1985 (out-of-print).