Rabbi Saunderson

by Ian Maclaren

Ian Maclaren, pseudonym of Rev. John Watson, (1850- 1907) was a Scottish author and theologian. In 1874 he entered the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland and became assistant minister of Edinburgh Barclay Church. Subsequently he was minister at Logiealmond in Perthshire and at Glasgow, and in 1880 he became minister of Sefton Park Presbyterian Church, Liverpool, from which he retired in 1905. In 1896 he was Lyman Beecher lecturer at Yale University, and in 1900 he was moderator of the synod of the English Presbyterian Church. While travelling in the United States he died at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. His first sketches of rural Scottish life, Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush (1894), achieved extraordinary popularity and were followed by other successful books, The Days of Auld Lang Syne (1895), Kate Carnegie and Those Ministers (1896), and Afterwards and Other Stories (1898). Under his own name Watson published several volumes of sermons, among them being The Upper Room (1895), The Mind of the Master (1896) and The Potter's Wheel (1897).

226 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1896

About the author

Rev. John Watson, known by his pen name Ian Maclaren, was a Scottish author and theologian. He was born in Manningtree, Essex, and educated at Stirling and at Edinburgh University, later studying theology at New College, Edinburgh, and at Tübingen.

In 1874 he became a minister of the Free Church of Scotland and assistant minister of Edinburgh Barclay Church. Subsequently he was minister at Logiealmond in Perthshire and at Glasgow, and in 1880 he became minister of Sefton Park Presbyterian Church, Liverpool, from which he retired in 1905.

Maclaren's first stories of rural Scottish life, Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush (1894), achieved extraordinary popularity, selling more than 700 thousand copies, and were succeeded by other successful books, The Days of Auld Lang Syne (1895), Kate Carnegie and those Ministers (1896), and Afterwards and other Stories (1898). He is now considered to be one of the principal writers of the Kailyard school, characterized by sanitised and sentimental representations or rural life.

Under his own name John Watson published several volumes of sermons, among them being The Upper Room (1895), The Mind of the Master (1896) and The Potter's Wheel (1897).

Reviews

[Anzu S]

Ch 36 P16 Should I adopt other gods instead of Him?