Patrick Carnegie Simpson (1865–1947) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, church historian, and author. He is noted for his involvement in the early 20th-century Scottish Church Crisis, his contributions to ecumenical dialogue and inter-church relations, and his long tenure as Professor of Church History at Westminster College, Cambridge (1914–1937).
In the years leading up to the Scottish Church Crisis, Carnegie Simpson collaborated with Principal Robert Rainy, his former professor at New College, Edinburgh, in efforts to secure the union of the Free Church of Scotland and the United Presbyterian Church.
During the Inter-War period, Carnegie Simpson played a role in inter-church relations, particularly during the Lambeth Conversations and the Revised Prayer Book controversy. He authored a number of books, most notably The Fact of Christ (1900) and The Life of Principal Rainy (1909). In 1928, Carnegie Simpson was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of England. He retired from Westminster College in 1937.
Early life and education Carnegie Simpson was born in 1865 in Horsham, Victoria.Who's Who in Australia, 1921–1950. Retrieved 19 January 2015. His father, Rev. Patrick Simpson of the Free Church of Scotland, arrived in Australia as a missionary in 1858.Swanton 1971, p. 48. Initially, Carnegie Simpson's father was minister in Belfast (now Port Fairy) before moving to Horsham in 1862. Ten years later, he returned to ScotlandThere is some confusion as to the exact date of his return. For Hay Colligan, 1938. p. 3. and subsequently Healy, 1972 p. 179., he returned in 1867, whereas Ward and Prentis, 2003. in the Presbyterian Ministers in Australia 1822 – 1901: Biographical Register. specify that Patrick Simpson was minister in Horsham up to 25 May 1968. following the death of Carnegie's mother. After his father's death in 1873,Historical Record of the Horsham Presbyterian Church. 1858 – 1908. p. 11. He was reported to be "suffering from an affection of the heart and softening of the brain". Carnegie and his siblings were raised by their aunt in a Presbyterian household in Morningside, Edinburgh.Carnegie Simpson 1943, p. 13. There was "Church … twice on Sunday … 'worldly' amusements, such as dancing or theatre-going were ... not countenanced … a narrow but wholesome upbringing".
Carnegie Simpson was educated at George Watson's College, and in 1882 was admitted to Edinburgh University, where he pursued an M.A. in Humanities. While at university, he participated in the social and political aspects of undergraduate life,Carnegie Simpson 1943, pp. 20 – 24. Amongst other things, he was on the students' representative council, convener for the "great bazaar" in aid of setting up a students' union, wrote articles for the Oxford Magazine and was politically active for the liberal, pro-Gladstone front in the election of the Rector. Later, when at New Hall, he was President of the Theological society. graduating in 1885 with first-class honours in philosophy. He spent the following summer semester in Heidelberg, Germany,Healey 1972, p. 179.Germany was at the forefront of the new "higher" biblical criticism at the time, and many of the leading Scottish churchmen in the second half of the nineteenth century completed their education there. See Campbell 1999. Among them, one may mention A.B. Davidson, George Adam Smith and William Robertson Smith, all of whom were to be accused of unorthodox and heretical reasoning by the more intransigent traditionalists of the Free Church. subsequently enrolling at New College, Edinburgh, the Theological Hall of the Free Church of Scotland, which at the time was transitioning from Calvinistic conservatism to a more flexible evangelical liberalism.Hume Brown 1911, p. 386.Cheyne 1996. "But it was the theological transformation effected by Davidson and Rainy – assisted, during the last decade of the century, by Marcus Dods – that won the College widespread acclaim (and notoriety) and made it such an exciting place in which to study."
Career After completing his studies in Heidelberg, Simpson began his clerical training with a probationary assistantship at St John's Free Church in Largs, Ayrshire, before moving to Free St Andrew’s in Edinburgh. In 1894, he married Agnes Schmalz from Copenhagen. After a brief period of engaging in literary work for Sir William Robertson Nicoll, editor of the British Weekly, in London,Carnegie Simpson 1943, p. 42. he was ordained in 1895 by the Presbytery of London South, and inducted into the charge of Christchurch, Wallington, London.
In 1899, Simpson moved to Scotland to become Minister at Renfield Church, Glasgow, one of the principal Free Church congregations,The Times, London. 23 December 1947. where he remained until 1911. He arrived at the time of the Scottish Church crisis and became engaged in the turmoil of ecclesiastical politics. He wrote two books during this time, The Fact of Christ and The Life of Principal Rainy. While at St John's Renfield Church, he became friends with James Denney,Hay Colligan, 1938. p. 10. Citing from "Moffatt's Letters of Principal Denney" Denney wrote of Carnegie Simpson: "He understands the history and principles of our Church as few men do, has a real instinct for public affairs; and I don't think I have ever spoken to him without learning something from him." who held the chair of New Testament Language and Literature at Free Church College, Glasgow.
In 1911, Carnegie Simpson returned to England to become Minister at the Presbyterian Church in Egremont, Wallasey, the largest Presbyterian church in the country.
His ministry at Egremont Presbyterian Church was brief, ending in 1914 when he was appointed to the chair of Church History at Westminster College, Cambridge.Densil Morgan 2012, p. 98. According to Densil Morgan, Westminster College was English Presbyterianism's "intellectual hub" with a distinguished faculty "including: John Skinner, (Old Testament), C. Anderson Scott, (New Testament), John Oman, (Systematic Theology) and Carnegie Simpson, (Church History)".
Post-war During the 1920s, Carnegie Simpson was once more drawn into the arena of Church affairs. He was most notably involved in the negotiations arising from the Lambeth Conference,It was at the Lambeth Conference of 1920 that Archbishop Randall Davidson launched the Anglican "Appeal to all Christian People" with a view towards greater cooperation and union between the Anglican Church and the nonconformist denominations. the Prayer Book Controversy, and the setting up of the Federal Council of the Evangelical Free ChurchesHealey 1972, p. 185. Note: Carnegie Simpson, in Recollections wrongly asserts that it was the Free Church Federal Council (formed in 1940) that he helped set up. Healey points out that this is a factual error. to foster cooperation between the nonconformist denominations. Carnegie Simpson became Moderator of the Federal Council of the Evangelical Free Churches of England in the years 1926–1927, and in 1928, he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly, the highest office and final court of appeal in the Presbyterian Church of England. DisappointedThe Times, London, 23 December 1947 by the failure of the Lambeth Conversations after the 1930 Lambeth Conference, Carnegie Simpson's role in Church politics in the 1930s declined. In 1937, at the age of 72, he retired from Westminster College, where he was elected Professor Emeritus.Smithen 1948, p. 4.
The Scottish Church crisis The early 20th century was a period of unrest in the Free Church of Scotland. This was due to the discord, and at times intense friction,James Gazette 25 October 1904. This friction included cases of forcible seizure and barricading of Churches, requests for police protection and Bible throwing within the Church. between the majority of congregants under the leadership of Principal Rainy, who championed the movement for union with the United Presbyterian Church,Negotiations concerning unification of the two Churches had been first initiated in 1863 and were concluded in 1900. See: United Presbyterian Church of Scotland and a dissenting minorityVidler 1962. Union was declared 31 October 1900. Voting in the Free Church Assembly for the Act of Union was 643 for / 27 against. – later to become known as the "Wee Free Kirk". This minority, who mostly hailed from the Highlands and Western Isles,Macleod 2000. "During the fifty years between 1843 and 1893 an increasingly obvious divide had come to exist in the Free Church between the Highland and Lowland congregations. … This was particularly so on issues such as biblical criticism and revision of the Westminster Confession of Faith." disagreed with the more liberal and evangelical interpretation of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and claimed to be the sole authentic representatives of the Free Church. When the union between the Free Church and the United Presbyterians was finally proclaimed in 1900 (to form the "United Free Church"), a lawsuit was filed by the 'Wee Frees' disputing its legality.
House of Lords' ruling Although initially rejected in Scottish courts, the lawsuit was upheld on appeal by the 1904 House of Lords.Boston College Collection: The Sacred Heart Review, Vol. 32, N° 9. It was the confusion resulting from the dispossession of the United Free Church majority from the entirety of the Church buildings, real estate, and financial assets that constituted the "Scottish Church Crisis".Carnegie Simpson 1909, Vol 2. pp. 269 – 354. The affair took on such proportions that the Government in Westminster considered it necessary to set up a parliamentary commission, which resulted in the unprecedented "Churches (Scotland) Act",Churches of Scotland Act.(1905) which overruled the House of Lords' decision and restored to the United Free Church all those assets, except those which the minority could feasibly use.
Ecclesiastical and academic career The Scottish experience Carnegie Simpson moved back to Scotland in 1899 to take up his Ministry at Renfield, just one year before the unification of the two Churches, where he found himself confronted with the conflicting factions. He was drawn into the debate in support of RainyCarnegie Simpson 1943, p. 52. "I think I may claim to have been among the earliest to press the matter ... of Spiritual Freedom ... " and, according to an editorial in the Journal of Presbyterian Historical Society of England, it was this experience that served as his apprenticeship in ecclesiastical affairs and as a negotiator.Journal of Presbyterian Historical Society of England. (1928) p. 3. "It was from the troubles that followed that Dr. Simpson learned his Churchmanship ..." His reputation spread rapidly.Hay Colligan 1938, p. 5. He became the youngest member of the Assembly's "Advisory Committee", which had been set up by Rainy to manage the situation and was called on to address meetings across ScotlandCarnegie Simpson 1943, pp. 52–53. Including the great "convocation," of the United Free Church held in Edinburgh on 15 December 1904, to decide what line of action to pursue. The convocation was attended by an alleged 10 000 people. and in London, to write pamphlets and articles for the press, and to negotiate with landlords to obtain land for temporary places of worship.Carnegie Simpson 1943, p. 52. During the same period, he carried several motions in the General Assembly and was appointed to several other committees, including the committee set up in 1909 to examine the issue of union between the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church,Carnegie Simpson 1943, p. 57. which was released by the Act of Union in 1929.
Return to England For Carnegie Simpson, the intense involvement as both the author of Rainy's biography and a participant in ecclesiastical politics was simply overwhelming. As a result, to escape from the overload of workCarnegie Simpson 1943, p. 58.