William Barclay was an author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, radio and television presenter, Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

 minister, and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism

Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism, Glasgow

The Professorship of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow was founded in 1861. The patron was formally the Crown...

 at the University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

.

Life

Barclay's father was a bank manager. He attended Dalziel High School

Dalziel High School

Dalziel High School is a non-denominational secondary school that is based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The current rector of the school is Levi toi.1.-Overview:...

 in Motherwell

Motherwell

Motherwell is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, south east of Glasgow. The name "Moderwelt" appears on a map of Lanarkshire made by Timothy Pont some time between 1583 and 1611 and printed in the Netherlands in around 1652, although the settlement was probably little more...

 and then studied classics at the University of Glasgow 1925-1929, before studying divinity. From 1933 to 1946 he was minister at Trinity Church Renfrew

Renfrew

-Local government:The town of Renfrew gave its name to a number of local government areas used at various times:*Renfrew a town to the west of Glasgow*Renfrewshire, the present unitary local council area in which Renfrew is situatated....

, afterwards returning to the University of Glasgow as lecturer in New Testament from 1947, and as professor from 1963.

Religious views

Barclay's personal views, expressed in his own A Spiritual Autobiography (1977) and Clive L. Rawlins' William Barclay: prophet of goodwill: the authorized biography (1998) included:

• scepticism concerning the Trinity: for example "Nowhere does the New Testament identify Jesus with God."
• belief in universal salvation: in his autobiography he wrote, "I am a convinced universalist. I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God."
• pacifism: "war is mass murder".

Works

While professor, he decided to dedicate his life to "making the best biblical scholarship available to the average reader". The eventual result was the Daily Study Bible, a set of 17 commentaries on the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

, published by Saint Andrew Press

Saint Andrew Press

Saint Andrew Press, established in 1954 to promote the works of the theologian William Barclay, is the publishing house of the Church of Scotland. It merged with Scottish Christian Press in 2005....

, the Church of Scotland's publishing house. Despite the series name, these commentaries do not set a program of regular study. Rather, they go verse by verse through Barclay's own translation of the New Testament, listing and examining every possible interpretation known to Barclay and providing all the background information he considered possibly relevant, all in layman's terms . The commentaries were fully updated with the help of William Barclay's son, Ronnie Barclay, in recent years and they are now known as the New Daily Study Bible series.

The 17 volumes of the set were all best-sellers and continue to be so to this day. A companion set giving a similar treatment to the Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 was endorsed but not written by Barclay.
In 2008 Saint Andrew Press

Saint Andrew Press

Saint Andrew Press, established in 1954 to promote the works of the theologian William Barclay, is the publishing house of the Church of Scotland. It merged with Scottish Christian Press in 2005....

 began taking the content of the New Daily Study Bibles and producing pocket-sized thematic titles called Insights. The Insights books are introduced by contemporary authors, broadcasters and scholars, including Nick Baines and Diane-Louise Jordan

Diane-Louise Jordan

Diane-Louise Jordan is a British television presenter. She was the first black presenter of the children's television programme Blue Peter, being involved in the programme from 25 January 1990 until 26 February 1996, making her its fourth longest-serving female presenter .Born in 1960, Jordan grew...

.

Barclay wrote many other popular books, always drawing on scholarship but written in a highly accessible style. In The Mind of Jesus (1960) he states that his aim was "to make the figure of Jesus more vividly alive, so that we may know him better and love him more".

Barclay's books include:

• The New Daily Study Bible (17 volumes covering the entire New Testament)
• Insights (Series currently extending to 8 titles)
• The Apostles' Creed
• The Parables of Jesus
• The Ten Commandments
• Flesh And Spirit: An Examination of Galatians 5:19-23
• The Plain Man Looks at the Lord's Prayer
• Discovering Jesus
• At the Last Trumpet: Jesus Christ and the End of Time
• The Mind of Jesus
• The Mind of St. Paul
• The Gospels and Acts: Matthew, Mark and Luke
• The Gospels and Acts: John and Acts
• A Spiritual Autobiography
• The Plain Man Looks at the Beatitudes
• A Beginner's Guide to the New Testament
• God's Young Church
• The Old Law and the New Law
• And He Had Compassion: The Miracles of Jesus (Judson Press)

External links

• Official site of the William Barclay Trust
• Brief biography at Harper Collins (publishers)
• The Enigmatic William Barclay, article in an online Christian magazine.
• "I am a convinced universalist" by William Barclay
• A collection of quotations from William Barclay.
• http://www.stmarkspress.com Publisher of some of Barclay's major books