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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 January 2009
John McLeod Campbell was deposed from the ministry of the Church of Scotland in 1831, at the age of thirtyone, following an infamous heresy trial focusing primarily on his preaching the universal extent of the atonement. After twenty-five long years of obscurity, he published The Nature of the Atonement and Its Relation to Remission of Sins and Eternal Life, in 1856, an extensive and eventually well received treatment of the doctrine and one which brought him into some prominence as a theologian. These are the two moments in his life for which Campbell is most remembered. This essay brings attention to a later work, Reminiscences and Reflections, Referring to His Early Ministry in the Parish of Row, 1825–31, begun in 1871 and left unfinished at his death the following year. Though it ostensibly has to do with the time and events leading up to his trial, important connections can be made with his later major writing on the atonement. In particular, Campbell's reflections on the value of the memory of the past are shown in this essay to offer an expanded, explanatory account of what it means for the work of Jesus Christ in the atonement to be reproduced in the Christian believer. According to Campbell, in this way even the past can be redeemed.
page 186 note 1 Campbell, John McLeod, The Nature of the Atonement and Its Relation to Remission of Sins and Eternal Life, 6th ed. (London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1886, reprinted 1895), pp. 110, 111, 115, 139, 150Google Scholar.
page 186 note 2 Ibid., pp. 113–14.
page 187 note 3 Ibid., pp. 116–18.
page 188 note 4 Ibid., pp. 144, 145, 147–48.
page 189 note 5 Ibid., pp. 150.
page 190 note 6 Ibid., pp. 153, 156–57, emphasis added.
page 191 note 7 For a fuller account of Campbell's understanding of the atonement, see Goodloe, James C. IV, ‘John McLeod Campbell, the Atonement, and the Transformation of the Religious Consciousness’ (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1987), pp. 88–108, 186–95, and 237–50Google Scholar.
page 191 note 8 Campbell, John McLeod, Reminiscences and Reflections, Referring to His Early Ministry in the Parish of Row, 1825–31, ed. and ‘Introductory Narrative’ by Campbell, Donald (London: Macmillan & Co., 1873Google Scholar; reprint ed., Louisville, Kentucky: Lost Cause Press, Microfiche 24 646–650, 1977), pp. v–vii, 194n.
page 191 note 9 Ibid., pp. 65, 71–72.
page 191 note 10 Ibid., p. 68.
page 192 note 11 When The Nature of the Atonement was written, attention was focused by many of its readers upon the retrospective aspect of the atonement to the neglect of the prospective aspect. It is significant that by the time Reiminiscences and Reflections was written, Campbell, was aware that the opposite situation prevailed, as evidenced by Memorials of John McLeod Campbell, D. D., Being Selections from His Correspondence, ed. Campbell, Donald, 2 vols. (London: Macmillan & Co., 1877Google Scholar; reprint ed., Louisville, Kentucky: Lost Cause Press, Microfiche A40559–56S [vol. 1] and A40564–567 [vol. 2], 1976), 2:344–45. This helps us understand ‘The value of the Memory of the Past to Old Age’ not only as a qualification to the purpose of Reminiscences and Reflections but also as a reemphasis upon, and somewhat deeper exploration of, the retrospective aspect of the atonement.
page 193 note 12 Reminiscences and Reflections, pp. 61–63.
page 193 note 13 Ibid., pp. 63, 64.
page 194 note 14 Ibid., pp. 64, 65.
page 195 note 15 Ibid., pp. 65, 66.
page 195 note 16 Ibid., pp. 66, 67.
page 196 note 17 Ibid, pp. 68–71.
page 199 note 18 Augustine, , The Confessions of St Augustine, trans. Warner, Rex, with an Introduction by Bourke, Vernon J. (New York: New American Libary, A Mentor Book, 1963), (cited by book, section and page) 1.1.17Google Scholar.
page 199 note 19 Ibid., 1.5.19–20.
page 200 note 20 Ibid, 2.1.40.
page 200 note 21 Ibid., 2.3. 43–44
page 201 note 22 Ibid., 10.3.211.
page 201 note 23 Ibid., 10.3.211–212.
page 202 note 24 Ibid., 10.4.212.
page 202 note 25 Ibid., 10.8.217–218.
page 202 note 26 Ibid., 10.13.223.
page 202 note 27 Ibid., 10.14.223.
page 203 note 28 Ibid., 13.1.316.
page 203 note 29 Ibid., 13.1.316–317.
page 204 note 30 Niebuhr, H. Richard, The Meaning of Revelation (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.; London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1941Google Scholar; Macmillan Paperbacks Edition, 1960), p. 80.
page 204 note 31 Ibid., p. 81.
page 205 note 32 Ibid., pp. 82–83.
page 205 note 33 Ibid., p. 84.
page 206 note 34 Ibid., p. 85.
page 206 note 35 Ibid., p. 85.
page 206 note 36 Ibid., p. 85. We are reminded of a quote attributed to William Faulkner: ‘The past isn't dead; hell, it isn't even pastl’
page 206 note 37 Ibid., p. 86.
page 206 note 38 Ibid., p. 86.
page 207 note 39 Ibid., p. 88.
page 207 note 40 Ibid., p. 88.
page 207 note 41 Ibid., pp. 89–96. See also Niebuhr, H. Richard, ‘War as the Judgment of God’, Christian Century 59 (13 May 1942): 630–633Google Scholar; ‘Is God in the War?’, Christian Century 59 (5 August 1942): 955–55; ‘War as Crucifixion’, Christian Century 60 (28 April 1943): 513–15.