Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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difficult to find better preaching in our time
than Stewart's.1
Organizers of both the Warrack and Beecher Lectures
recognized Stewart's stature by inviting him to speak in
their forums. Few have received this double honor.
Born in 1896, in Dundee, James Stewart was the son
of parents who lived, in his words, in "the afterglow of
D.L. Moody."2 Stewart distinguished himself in the
field of Classics at the University of St. Andrews,
receiving a . First Class Honours degree. 's Further
theological study at New College, Edinburgh; and the
University of Bonn was interrupted by wartime military
service. He subsequently served three pastorates (in
Auchterarder. Aberdeen, and Edinburgh) from 1924 to 1947.
A career change came when New College called him to serve
as Professor of New Testament. Near the end of his
teaching career there, the Church of Scotland honored him
by electing him Moderator of its General Assembly.
The following statement summarizes Stewart's
theology and preaching content. "I do believe it [the
Bible] is inspired in the sense that in every page of it
I can encounter Jesus Christ.'"4 In his Beecher
Lectures, he outlined the content of Biblical preaching
in much greater detail; four of five lectures dealt with
the person and work of Jesus.'5
Stewart phrased his belief in the Incarnation, so
that it could not be misunderstood. "Either, in Christ,
God the Creator and Redeemer came right into human life,
or else the Gospels are the record of a lie." The