Peter Taylor Forsyth
Encyclopedia
The son of a postman, Forsyth studied at the University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
and then in Göttingen (under Albrecht Ritschl
Albrecht Ritschl
Albrecht Ritschl was a German theologian.Starting in 1852, Ritschl lectured on "Systematic Theology". According to this system, faith was understood to be irreducible to other experiences, beyond the scope of reason. Faith, he said, came not from facts but from value judgments...
). He was ordained into the Congregational
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
ministry
Minister of religion
In Christian churches, a minister is someone who is authorized by a church or religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community...
and served churches as pastor at Bradford, Manchester, Leicester and Cambridge, before becoming Principal of Hackney College, London (later subsumed into the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
) in 1901.
An early interest in critical theology made him suspect to some more 'orthodox' Christians. However, he increasingly came to the conclusion that liberal theology
Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
failed to account adequately for the moral problem of the guilty conscience
Conscience
Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment of the intellect that distinguishes right from wrong. Moral judgement may derive from values or norms...
. This led him to a moral crisis which he found resolved in the atoning work of Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
. The experience helped to shape and inform a vigorous interest in the issues of holiness
Sacred
Holiness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred...
and atonement. Although Forsyth rejected many of his earlier liberal leanings he retained many of Adolf von Harnack
Adolf von Harnack
Adolf von Harnack , was a German theologian and prominent church historian.He produced many religious publications from 1873-1912....
's criticisms of Chalcedon
Chalcedon
Chalcedon , sometimes transliterated as Chalkedon) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari . It is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy...
ian Christology
Christology
Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...
. This led him to expound a kenotic
Kenosis
In Christian theology, Kenosis In Christian theology, Kenosis In Christian theology, Kenosis (from the Greek word for emptiness (kénōsis) is the 'self-emptying' of one's own will and becoming entirely receptive to God's divine will....
doctrine of the incarnation (clearly influenced by Bishop Charles Gore
Charles Gore
Charles Gore was a British theologian and Anglican bishop.-Early life and education:Gore was the third son of the Honourable Charles Alexander Gore, and brother of the fourth Earl of Arran...
and Thomasius
Thomasius
Thomasius is a surname, and may refer to:* Christian Thomasius , German jurist and philosopher* Jakob Thomasius , German philosopher* Gottfried Thomasius , German theologian...
). Where he differed from other kenotic theologies of the atonement was the claim that Christ did not give up his divine attributes but condensed them; i.e., the incarnation
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
was the expression of God's omnipotence rather than its negation. His theology and attack on liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
can be found in his most famous work, The Person and Place of Christ (1909), which anticipated much of the neo-orthodox
Neo-orthodoxy
Neo-orthodoxy, in Europe also known as theology of crisis and dialectical theology,is an approach to theology in Protestantism that was developed in the aftermath of the First World War...
theology of the next generation. He has often lazily been coined the 'Barthian before Barth
Karl Barth
Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...
', but this fails to account for many areas of divergence with the Swiss theologian's thought.
While many of Forsyth's most significant insights have largely gone ignored, not a few consider him to be among the greatest of English-speaking theologians of the early twentieth century.
In his textbook Christian Theology: An Introduction, Alister E. McGrath makes note of Forsyth's Justification of God (1916). McGrath says this book "represents an impassioned plea to allow the notion of the 'justice of God' to be rediscovered. Forsyth is less concerned than Anselm
Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...
for the legal and juridical aspects of the cross; his interest centers on the manner in which the cross is inextricably linked with 'the whole moral fabric and movement of the universe.' The doctrine of the atonement is inseparable from 'the rightness of things.' "
Books
- 'Pulpit Parables for Young Hearers'. With J. A. Hamilton. Manchester/London: Brook & Chrystal/Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1888.
- 'Religion in Recent Art: Being Expository Lectures on Rossetti, Burne Jones, Watts, Holman Hunt, and Wagner'. New York: AMS Press, 1972 (reprinted from the 3rd edition, 1905; 1st ed. 1889)
- 'The Charter of the Church: Six Lectures on the Spiritual Principle of Nonconformity'. London: Alexander & Shepheard, 1896.
- 'The Holy Father and the Living Christ'. London: Hodder & StoughtonHodder & StoughtonHodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.-History:The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged fourteen, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publisher for the Congregational Union...
, 1897. - 'Intercessory Services for Aid in Public Worship'. Manchester: John Heywood, 1896.
- 'Rome, Reform and Reaction: Four Lectures on the Religious Situation'. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1899.
- 'The Taste of Death and the Life of Grace'. London: James Clarke, 1901, included in God the Holy Father. Blackwood: New Creation, 1987.
- 'Positive Preaching and Modern Mind: The Lyman Beecher Lecture on Preaching, Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, 1907'. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1907. - 'Missions in State and Church: Sermons and Addresses'. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1908.
- 'Socialism, the Church and the Poor'. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1908.
- 'The Cruciality of the Cross'. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1910.
- 'The Person and Place of Jesus Christ: The Congregational Union Lecture for 1909'. London: Congregational Union of England and Wales/Hodder & Stoughton, 1909; London: Independent Press, 1948.
- 'The Power of Prayer'. With Dora Greenwell. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1910.
- 'The Work of Christ'. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1910.
- 'Christ on Parnassus: Lectures on Art, Ethic, and Theology'. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1911.
- 'Faith, Freedom and the Future'. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1912.
- 'Marriage: Its Ethic and Religion'. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1912.
- 'The Principle of Authority in Relation to Certainty, Sanctity and Society: An Essay in the Philosophy of Experimental Religion'. London: Independent Press, 1952 (1913).
- 'Theology In Church and State.' London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1915.
- 'The Christian Ethic of War'. Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 1999 (1916).
- 'The Justification of God: Lectures for War-Time on a Christian Theodicy'. London: Independent Press, 1957.
- 'The Soul of Prayer'. London: Independent Press, 1949 (1916).
- 'The Church and the Sacraments'. London: Independent Press, 1947 (1916).
- 'This Life and the Next: The Effect on This Life of Faith in Another'. London: Independent Press, 1946.
- 'Christian Aspects of Evolution'. London: The Epworth Press, 1950.
- 'Congregationalism and Reunion: Two Lectures'. London: Independent Press, 1952.
- 'The Church, the Gospel and Society'. London: Independent Press, 1962.
- 'Revelation Old and New: Sermons and Addresses'. (ed. John Huxtable). London: Independent Press, 1962.
- 'God the Holy Father'. Blackwood: New Creation Publications, 1987.
- 'The Preaching of Jesus and the Gospel of Christ'. Blackwood: New Creation Publications, 1987.
External links
- More information on P.T. Forsyth and many of his works can be accessed at 'Per Crucem ad Lucem'