Theology in Scotland Journal

Theology in Scotland is sponsored by the School of Divinity, University of St Andrews (St Mary's College) and appears twice yearly, in spring and autumn. It was first published in 1994 at the request of a large group of ministers of the Church of Scotland.

With a mix of academic and practical articles and stimulating reviews, it is an ideal tool to help keep up-to-date with current theological thinking.

Current issue

Theology in Scotland 19 no. 2 (Autumn 2012)

This issue of the journal comprises the text of lectures given at a conference on ‘Athens and Jerusalem’ held by the Scottish Church Theology Society at Crieff Hydro in January 2012.

Papers on Hume, Reid and religion in the Scottish Enlightenment

Hume and Reid: A common legacy

Lord Stewart Sutherland (formerly Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the Universities of London and Edinburgh)

Lord Sutherland provides a lucid introduction to factors in the cultural legacy which David Hume and Thomas Reid inherited. These factors included Calvinism and the characteristic Scottish practice of reasoning from first principles. He then goes on to unfold the continuing relevance of Hume’s ideas to contemporary debate concerning the family, education and civil society.

Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

Prof Alexander Broadie (Emeritus Professor of Logic and Rhetoric, University of Glasgow)

Alexander Broadie introduces us to Hume’s Dialogues, sets Hume in his context, and explains how subtle Hume’s arguments actually are. Professor Broadie shows us how Hume’s genius is shown in the subtle but wider questions he raises. His conclusion is that in the Dialogues Hume is operating in sceptical mode, a further illustration of the diversity of his philosophical approach.

Thomas Reid, Hume and Theology

Prof Joseph Houston (Emeritus Professor of Philosophical Theology, University of Glasgow)

Joe Houston unfolds the subtlety of some of the fundamental aspects of Thomas Reid’s response to Hume’s scepticism and religious agnosticism. He discusses Hume’s awareness of the tension between scepticism and daily life; his foundationalist notions of rational belief; and the relation of modes of belief to the physical world, past events and causation. He then considers Reid’s counter-argument, that as humans we are constituted with belief-forming dispositions, and that there are no non-circular justifications available for each of the modes of belief-formation, only the principles of common sense.

The Landscape of Apologetics

Dr Donald Bruce (Managing Director of Edinethics ethics consultancy)

Donald Bruce gives an account of his own involvement in apologetics, offering an understanding of the kind of background typical of a Christian apologist in the twenty-first century. He introduces us to the work of Os Guinness, raises some of the commonly-posed issues relating to the frontier between faith and science and concludes, appropriately, with Christ and His gospel.

Books reviewed:

Review Article: T. F. Torrance, Gospel, Church and Ministry

Shorter reviews:

• Mervyn Davies and Graham Dodds, Leadership in the Church for a People of Hope
  
• Terry Ray Clark and Dan W. Clanton Jr., eds, Understanding Religion and Popular Culture: Theories, Themes, Products and Practices
• J. Todd Billings, Union With Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church