Islay Burns

Islay Burns (1817 – 1872) was a Scottish theologian and writer, brother of William Chalmers Burns.

Biography

Burns was born in 1817 at the manse of Dun in Forfarshire, where his father (afterwards translated to Kilsyth, near Glasgow) was minister. He received the chief part of his education at the grammar school of Aberdeen, under Dr. James Melvin, a celebrated teacher of Latin, and at Marischal College and University of Aberdeen, and the University of Glasgow. Studying for the ministry, he was ordained in 1843 to the charge of St. Peter's Free church, Dundee, in succession to Robert Murray M'Cheyne, a man of eminent spirituality and power. In 1863 he received the degree of D.D. from the University of Aberdeen, and in 1864 was chosen to a professor's chair in the theological college of the Free church, Glasgow. In this office he remained during the rest of his life. Burns was remarkable for a combination of evangelical fervour with width of culture and sympathy, a strong æsthetic faculty and a highly charitable spirit. To the diligent and successful discharge of his duties, first as a minister of the gospel and then as a professor, he added considerable literary activity.

His chief writings were A Series of Essays on the Tractarian and other Movements in the Church of England, published in the British and Foreign Evangelical Review, History of the Church of Christ, with special reference to the delineation of faith and life, The Pastor of Kilsyth, which is a sketch of the life of his father. A posthumous volume of Select Remains was published in 1874.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Blaikie, William Garden (1886). "Burns, Islay". In Stephen, Leslie. Dictionary of National Biography. 07. London: Smith, Elder & Co.