James Whyte was an influential figure in the Church and in Scottish life, largely because of his reputation as a pastor. Four events brought him to the centre of public attention. During his time as Principal of St Mary's it came to light that one of his students had previously served a sentence for murder. There followed a public controversy about whether this man could become a minister of the Church. Whyte argued on the basis of the Christian doctrine of forgiveness and persuaded the General Assembly not to block the ordination. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was invited to address the 1988 General Assembly and gave the speech which the press dubbed the Sermon on the Mound, which attempted to suggest a theological basis for her style of capitalism. As Moderator, Whyte responded by presenting her with church reports on housing and poverty. He professed himself astonished at the public controversy which this relatively restrained censure unleashed. In his speech to the General Assembly the following year he recalled : "one knight-errant looking for a windmill to tilt at even described me as 'Satanic' !" As Moderator, Whyte was called on to preach at the memorial service for the victims of the Lockerbie disaster on 4 January 1989. This sermon was widely cited in the press and had a great impact: The full text of this sermon was published in Laughter and Tears pp 92–5. After the Dunblane Massacre in 1996 the families of the victims requested that Whyte conduct the memorial service on 9 October that year. The text of the sermon he preached on this occasion appears in The Dream and the Grace pp 125–9. Whyte was renowned for his witty comments on Scottish public life. When the Conservative governmentprivatised the Trustee Savings Bank in 1985 he wrote a three-sentence letter to The Scotsman: "Bankrobbery is the word we use to describe the crime of stealing from a bank. But what word can we use to describe the crime of stealing a bank? Words cannot describe the crimes of government!"
Publications
Laughter and Tears: Thoughts on Faith in the Face of Suffering, Edinburgh: St Andrew Press 1993,.
The Dream and the Grace: Sermons on Healthy and Unhealthy Religion, Edinburgh: St Andrew Press 2001,.
Worship Now: A Collection of Services and Prayer for Public Worship, vol 1 Edinburgh: St Andrew Press 1972 ; vol 2 Edinburgh: St Andrew Press 1989,.
An interview with Whyte: Kenneth Roy, "A Present for Mrs Thatcher" in Kenneth Roy, Conversations in a Small Country, Ayr: Carrick Publishing 1989,, pp 41–8