Sandy Finlayson speaks about the life and ministry of Thomas Chalmers. Finlayson is the author of Chief Scottish Man: The Life and Ministry of Thomas Chalmers (Evangelical Press). Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) was a significant figure in nineteenth-century Scotland. Without his vision, organizational skills, and his ability to mobilize opinion, it is unlikely that the Free Church would have come into existence. This new and updated biography—expanded significantly from Finlayson’s Bitesize Biography—tells the story of visionary thinker, minister, and preacher Thomas Chalmers and the many years of struggle for the spiritual independence of the Church of Scotland.

Purchase the book at 10 of Those and receive discounts on bulk orders.

Mr. Finlayson is director of library services and professor of theological bibliography at Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, Pennsylvania.

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction
00:05:43 Developing an Interest in Chalmers
00:12:09 The Chief Scottish Man of His Time
00:18:49 The Establishmentarian Principle
00:23:10 Scotland in Turmoil
00:26:53 Chalmers’ Early Life and Education
00:36:45 Parish Ministries
00:37:36 The Kilmany Bible Society
00:41:07 Chalmers’ Growth and Transition
00:48:40 Time at St. Andrews University
00:51:59 The Disruption of 1843
00:56:04 Lessons for Today
01:07:48 Conclusion

• Episode 156 – Darryl Hart on Machen, Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and the OPC
• Episode 160 – Carl Trueman on historiography
• Episode 161 – Winston Smith on marriage as a picture of Christ’s relation to the Church
• Episode 162 – Mark A. Garcia on the justification landscape
• Episode 163 – K. Scott Oliphint on Gordon Clark, Cornelius Van Til, the Trinity, and logic
• Episode 185 – James Dolezal on the doctrine of divine simplicity
• Episode 192 – Sandy Finlayson on the founding of the Free Church of Scotland
• Episode 200 – Lane Tipton on various Lutheran theologies of justification
• Episode 203 – Jim Cassidy on Van Til’s criticism of Barth
• Episode 206 – Kevin DeYoung on holiness, antinomianism, and neo-nomianism

Participants: Camden Bucey, Carl Trueman, Darryl G. Hart, James Dolezal, Jim Cassidy, K. Scott Oliphint, Lane G. Tipton, Mark Garcia, Sandy Finlayson, Winston Smith

Christ the Center is very pleased to welcome Sandy Finlayson to the program to discuss his book Unity & Diversity: The Founders of the Free Church of Scotland. Mr. Finlayson is Professor of Theological Bibliography and Director of Library Services at Westminster Theological Seminary. The book is a wonderful perspective to the history of the Free Church as it presents stimulating and readable biographies of many key figures surrounding the founding of the Free Church of Scotland. This discussion is thoroughly enjoyable.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Carl Trueman, Sandy Finlayson