John Baillie

1886-1960. Scottish theologian. He held various chairs in theology in the USA and Canada (1919-34) and was professor of divinity in the University of Edinburgh (1934-56). Convener during World War II of a commission appointed by the Church of Scotland “for the interpretation of God's will in the present crisis,” and moderator of the general assembly (1943), he was a keen ecumenist like his brother, Donald MacPherson Baillie*; was a president of the World Council of Churches,* and a signatory of the “Bishops Report” which in 1957 suggested the introduction of bishops-in-presbytery into the Church of Scotland. Deeply concerned about the doubts which people felt about the Christian faith, he excelled as an apologist (cf. his Invitation to Pilgrimage, 1942). His And the Life Everlasting (1933) and A Diary of Private Prayer (1936) reached a wide public. His Gifford Lectures, The Sense of the Presence of God, were published posthumously.