Bruce, Alexander Balmain

BRUCE, ALEXANDER BALMAIN: Church of Scotland; b. at Aberargie (a hamlet in the parish of Abernethy, 7 m. s.e. of Perth), Perthshire, Jan. 30, 1831; d. at Glasgow Aug. 7, 1899. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh (1845–49) and the Divinity Hall of the Free Church of Scotland, which he entered in 1849. After the completion of his theological studies, he was an assistant minister at Ancrum, Roxburghshire, and Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, until 1859, when he accepted a call to the pastorate of Cardross, Dumbartonshire, where he remained nine years. He was then minister of the East Free Church, Broughty Ferry, Forfarshire, from 1868 to 1875, 282and in the latter year was appointed professor of apologetics and New Testament exegesis in the Free Church Hall, Glasgow, a position which he held until his death. In theology he declared himself to be "in sympathy with modern religious thought, while maintaining solidarity with all that is best in the theology of the past; in favor of freedom in critical inquiries on the basis of evangelic faith, and of a simplified and more comprehensive creed." The boldness of his views brought him to the notice of the General Assembly of his denomination in 1890, but after consideration his writings were pronounced to be, on the whole, in accord with orthodox standards. He was Cunningham Lecturer in 1874, Ely Lecturer in Union Theological Seminary, New Work, in 1886, and Gifford Lecturer in Glasgow University in 1896–97, and after 1894 collaborated with T. K. Cheyne in editing the Theological Translation Library. In addition to minor contributions, he wrote The Training of the Twelve (Edinburgh, 1871); The Humiliation of Christ (1876); The Chief End of Revelation (London, 1881); The Parabolic Teaching of Christ (1882); The Galilæan Gospel (Edinburgh, 1884); F. C. Baur and his Theory of the Origin of Christianity and of the New Testament (London, 1885); The Miraculous Element in the Gospels (the Ely lectures for 1886; 1886); The Life of William Denny (1888); The Kingdom of God, or, Christ's Teachings according to the Synoptic Gospels (Edinburgh, 1889); Apologetics: or, The Cause of Christianity defensively stated (1892); St. Paul's Conception of Christianity (1894); With Open Face: or, Jesus mirrored in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (London, 1896); The Providential Order of the World (Gifford lectures for 1897; 1897); a commentary on the synoptic Gospels in The Expositor's Greek Testament (1897); The Epistle to the Hebrews: the first Apology for Christianity (Edinburgh, 1899); and The Moral Order of the World in Ancient and Modern Thought (Gifford lectures for 1898; London, 1899).

Bibliography: DNB, supplement i., 321–322.