Samuel Angus was professor of New Testament and Church History at St Andrew's College

St Andrew's College, Sydney

St Andrew's College is a Protestant co-residential college within the University of Sydney, in the suburb of Camperdown.-History:St Andrew's College was incorporated by Act of Parliament and received Royal Assent from Queen Victoria on 12 December 1867. The St Andrew's College Act 1998 replaced the...

 in the University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

 from 1915 to 1943. His outspoken views of Christian theology

Christian theology

- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...

 were criticized by the Presbyterian Church of Australia

Presbyterian Church of Australia

The Presbyterian Church of Australia is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Australia. .-Beginnings:...

, leading to formal charges of heresy

Heresy

Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...

. Angus was later acquitted of these charges after an investigation conducted by the Juridical Commission of the Church.

Angus rejected many of the core traditional Christian beliefs, including the doctrine of the Trinity

Trinity

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...

, the Biblical inspiration

Biblical inspiration

Biblical inspiration is the doctrine in Christian theology that the authors and editors of the Bible were led or influenced by God with the result that their writings many be designated in some sense the word of God.- Etymology :...

, the virgin birth and bodily resurrection

Resurrection

Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...

 of Christ.

Angus earned an M.A. at Queen's College, Galway, and a second M.A. and a Ph.D. from Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

. He attended Princeton Theological Seminary

Princeton Theological Seminary

Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...

, but did not complete a degree. He held a lectureship at Hartford Theological Seminary from 1906 to 1910 and another in Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

 in 1912. Angus served as Visiting Professor of Education at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

from 1929 to 1931.

Works

• Truth and Tradition: a Plea for Practical and Vital Religion and for Reinterpretation of Ancient Theologies, Sydney 1934
• The Mystery Religions and Christianity (1925)
• The Religious Quests of the Graeco-Roman World: A Study in the Historical Background of Early Christianity (June 1929), Biblo-Moser ISBN 0819601969 ISBN 978-0819601964
• The Sources Of The First Ten Books Of Augustine's De Civitate Dei (1906)
• The Environment of Early Christianity (1914), Studies in Theology C. Scribner ASIN: B00088EPA0
• What Is A Mystery Religion? (?)
• Christianity and dogma (1933), Angus & Robertson ASIN: B00088YJZ6
• Forgiveness and life (Posthumously 1962); Chapters from an uncompleted book, "The Historical Approach to Jesus." Publisher: Angus and Robertson ASIN: B0007JN3FS
• The koine: The language of the New Testament (1910) Princeton University Press ASIN: B0008BGFM8
• Man and the new order (1941), Angus and Robertson ASIN: B0007JZWKW
• Religion in national life: Address to the University Association of Canberra, 6 October 1933 ASIN: B00088YJYW
• Alms for oblivion: chapters from a heretic's life (1943), Angus and Robertson

External links

• Book review of Susan Emilson's, A Whiff of Heresy: Samuel Angus and the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales