Is william barclay catholic
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The Enigmatic William Barclay
William Barclay (1907-1978), the famous Scottish scholar, was, in some respects, a brilliant writer. But he was an enigma. Barclay taught at the University of Glasgow for 28 years. Though a man of humble background, he became a theological celebrity. He was widely known in Great Britain for his radio and television broadcasts, but his most significant legacy — whether for good or bad — was his writing.
Barclay’s Modernism
Barclay once described himself as a liberal evangelical — a somewhat contradictory expression. The truth about the engaging professor is that he was a theological modernist. For example, he did not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. He wrote that we are not compelled to accept this teaching “in the literal and physical sense.”
Barclay did not hesitate to discredit miracles in the Bible. While he felt there was some essence of the miraculous in Christ’s deeds, he believed many of the Lord’s miracles had perfectly natural explanations.
For example, he argued that the Savior di
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William Barclay (1907-1978)
Professor, Theologian, Author, Greek Scholar
While too liberal and modern for much of the church, none can deny that William Barclay's astute commentary on Scripture has often been enlightening and deeply enriching.
Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow, Barclay dedicated his life to "making the best biblical scholarship available to the average reader."
The result was the Daily Study Bible, a set of commentaries on the New Testament, exploring verse by verse through Barclay's own translation of the New Testament, listing and examining every possible interpretation known to Barclay and providing all the background information he considered possibly relevant. The 17 volumes of the set were all instant best-sellers and continue to be so to this day.
The Scottish professor was a life-long student. He was not a cleric who spoke or wrote lazily. He did not employ stale, borrowed (or stolen) or warmed-over material. He obviously had a thirst for knowledge.
For more than half his life he was a teacher o
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Who was William Barclay?
Answer
William Barclay (1907—1978) was a New Testament scholar and Church of Scotland minister best remembered for his radio and television broadcasts and writings produced and published as the Daily Study Bible. Barclay’s primary interest was communicating the history, theology, and language of the New Testament in a comprehensible and relevant way to ordinary people of his time.
Born in Wick, Scotland, Barclay descended from Scottish highlanders. His father was an evangelical lay minister who preached in Gaelic and worked as a manager at the Bank of Scotland. The family moved to Motherwell—the town Barclay called home—when he was a boy of five. By age 12, Barclay felt called to preach.
Barclay studied classical arts and divinity at Glasgow University, earning his degree in 1932. He then pursued an additional year of education at the University of Marburg in Germany. In 1933, William Barclay was ordained in the Church of Scotland and began ministering at Trinity Church, Renfrew (near Glasgow), where he continued until 1946.
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