John McIntyre (theologian)


John McIntyre was a Scottish minister and theologian. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1982/83 and Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland from 1990 to 1996.

Biography

McIntyre was born in Glasgow on 20 May 1916 into a working-class family; he was the son of a carpenter. He was educated at Bathgate Academy and the University of Edinburgh.
He was ordained as a minister in the Church of Scotland in 1941 and worked in Glen Orchy and Inishail as locum tenens and in Fenwick as minister.
In 1946 he was appointed Hunter Baillie Professor of Theology at St. Andrew's College, Sydney. He remained at the college until 1956, having been appointed Principal in 1950. He was elected Honorary Fellow in 1990. He obtained his DPhil in 1953. In 1956 he was appointed Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh, having declined the offer of a position at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. He held the chair until 1986. He was in addition Principal of New College and Dean of the Faculty of Divinity and acting Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the university. He was first senior warden of Pollock Halls of Residence, where the refectory is now named in his honour.
In 1971 he was interim minister of the High Kirk of Edinburgh. He was Dean of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle from 1974 until 1989, Extra Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland 1974–75, Chaplain 1975–86, and Extra Chaplain again 1986–2005. He was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by HM The Queen in 1985.
In 1982 he succeeded Very Rev Andrew Beveridge Doig as the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. From 1983 until 1987 he was convenor of the Church of Scotland Board of Education.
In 1986 he was honoured with a Festschrift, Religious imagination, ed. James P. Mackey. Having taken the substantive degree of Doctor of Letters at Edinburgh, he was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, and the College of Wooster. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1977. He was a Member of Council 1979–86 and Vice-President 1983–86.
He retired in 1996 and died at The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh on 15 December 2005.

Publications