Scotland’s premier preacher and teacher, James Stuart Stewart, died just a year ago on July 1, 1990. Although he eschewed party labels, such as “conservative” and “evangelical,” he was thoroughly orthodox and had a significant impact on evangelicals worldwide.
Stewart’s ministry can be divided into two almost equal parts: 22 years of parish ministry, concluding at the prestigious North Morningside Church of Scotland, Edinburgh; and 20 years as professor of New Testament language, literature, and theology at New College, University of Edinburgh. Interestingly, though renowned as a superlative preacher and fine pastor, it was during his parish phase that Stewart produced his most scholarly writings, translating and coediting (with H. R. MacKintosh) Schleiermacher’s massive The Christian Faith, producing a small textbook on The Life and Teaching of Jesus Christ, and authoring his most enduring monograph, A Man in Christ: The Vital Elements of St. Paul’s Religion. He gained international fame through two books of sermons (The Gates of New Life and The Strong Name) and the Warwick lectures on preaching (Heralds of God).
In his professorial phase, however, he did not give himself to research but was devoted to teaching ministerial students, supervising doctoral candidates, and writing homiletical materials that demonstrated how to bring together a rigorous scholarship, a reverential reading of Scripture, and an effective communication of the gospel. Stewart was not uninterested in what was current in scholarly research, but during this phase he saw his goals carried on in other lives and ministries.
From his World War I experience, Stewart carried a profound consciousness of human depravity and an acute realization of the depths of injustice we can sink to apart from God’s grace. He was quiet, gracious, and humble—frequently, quite shy. Small talk was not his forte. Often his wife, Rosamund, had to come to his aid when he was trapped by someone with more of a gift of gab than a gift of utterance. Yet while unimposing and shy, he was a veritable prince of preachers and teachers. In the pulpit or at the lectern, he became enraptured with his subject.
My most cherished recollections of Professor Stewart are of times he would start expounding on a subject in a pedantic and discreet manner, then get so carried away with his subject that it began to take control of him, so that, without any rise in pitch or volume, there would be an increase in emotional intensity and a crescendo of descriptive detail and lyrical expression, and finally, when he had exhausted his subject, he would drop back to his discreet manner. His hearers often experienced that buildup and drop—sometimes inadvertently expressing their empathy in a gasp. This response sometimes startled Stewart, who seemed for a moment to lose his train of thought.
Anecdotes are legion regarding Stewart’s unfeigned humility. My favorite has to do with his shock at being asked by an overseas admirer to sign his name in the flyleaf of a Bible. “Why?” he asked. “I’m not the author!”
Typical as well was his refusal to join a prominent London preacher in bringing a lawsuit against the estate of a famous American, whose posthumously published sermons appeared to be duplicates of some previously published by Stewart and the London preacher. “The words are God’s and the people’s,” he said, “not mine!”
Stewart had much to be proud of. He was appointed as a royal chaplain by both George VI and Elizabeth II; he was elected moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; and he was invited to preach and lecture extensively in Scotland, England, the United States, Canada, and Australia. What he spoke of most, however, were his post as chaplain to the local professional soccer team and his frequent opportunities to proclaim the gospel at a rescue mission in an Edinburgh slum.
For nearly half a century, James Stuart Stewart proclaimed the gospel with perception and persuasion, but most notably with grace and humility.
RICHARD LONGENECKER
