The Very Rev James Aitken Whyte was a leading Scottish theologian and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Scotland (Alba in Scottish Gaelic) is a country in northwest Europe and a constituent nation of the United Kingdom. ... Theology is literally rational discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, rational discourse). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... The standard of the Moderator The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is an honorary role, held for 12 months. ... The Church of Scotland (CofS sometimes known as the Kirk) is the national church of Scotland. ...

Biography

James A. Whyte (28 January 1920 - 17 June 2005) was brought up in Edinburgh and studied philosophy and divinity at Edinburgh University. After his ordination in 1945 he spent three years as an army chaplain, and then served as a parish minister at Dunollie Road Church in Oban (inducted 1948) and Mayfield North in Edinburgh (1954). In 1958 he was appointed Professor of Practical theology and Christian ethics at St Mary's College, the divinity faculty of the University of St Andrews and was Principal of St Mary's 1978-82. His academic work focused mainly on the study of pastoral theology, liturgy and ecclesiastical architecture. He was moderator of the 1988 General Assembly. Whyte's first wife Elisabeth died during his moderatorial year. He was survived by his second wife Ishbel and the daughter and two sons of his first marriage. January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... The University of Edinburgh was founded in 1583 as a renowned centre for teaching in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... A chaplain is a priest or a member of the clergy serving a group of people who are not organized as a mission or church. ... Oban fron Oban harbour Oban (An t-Oban in Gaelic) is a resort town in Argyll, Scotland with a population of around 12,000. ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Edinburghs location in Scotland Edinburgh viewed from Arthurs Seat. ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... St Marys College The College of St Mary of the University of St Andrews, in full, the New College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was founded in 1539 by Archbishop James Beaton, uncle of Cardinal David Beaton. ... The University of St Andrews was founded between 1410 and 1413 and is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the anglophone world. ... A principal is: The head of an institution. ... From the Greek word λειτουργια, which can be transliterated as leitourgia, meaning the work of the people, a liturgy comprises a prescribed religious ceremony, according to the traditions of a particular religion; it may refer to, or include, an elaborate formal ritual (such as the Catholic Mass), a daily activity such... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Public profile

James Whyte was a highly 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. The Right Honourable Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925), is a British stateswoman and was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, also Leader of the Opposition from 1975, and the only woman to date to hold those positions. ... The Sermon on the Mound is the name given by the British press to an address made by Margaret Thatcher to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1988. ...

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 nose, containing the flight crew and first-class section, landed in a farmers field near a tiny church in Tundergarth, Scotland Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up as it flew over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, when 12–16 oz (340 – 450 g) of plastic explosive... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

"That such carnage of the young and of the innocent should have been willed by men in cold and calculated evil, is horror upon horror. What is our response to that?

The desire, the determination, that those who did this should be detected and, if possible, brought to justice, is natural and is right. The uncovering of the truth will not be easy, and evidence that would stand up in a court of law may be hard to obtain.

Justice is one thing. But already one hears in the media the word 'retaliation'. As far as I know, no responsible politician has used that word, and I hope none ever will, except to disown it. For that way lies the endless cycle of violence upon violence, horror upon horror. And we may be tempted, indeed urged by some, to flex our muscles in response, to show that we are men. To show that we are what? To show that we are prepared to let more young and more innocent die, to let more rescue workers labour in more wreckage to find the grisly proof, not of our virility, but of our inhumanity. That is what retaliation means."

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. The Dunblane massacre occurred at the primary school in the small town of Dunblane in central Scotland. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... October 9 is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in Leap years). ...

Whyte was renowned for his witty comments on Scottish public life. When the Conservative government privatised 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!" The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the centre-right in the United Kingdom. ... Privatization (sometimes privatisation, denationalization, or, especially in India, disinvestment) is the process of transferring property, from public ownership to private ownership and/or transferring the management of a service or activity from the government to the private sector. ... Lloyds TSB Group plc is a group of financial services companies, based in the United Kingdom, with the registered office in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Scotsmans offices in Edinburgh The Scotsman is a Scottish newspaper published in Edinburgh. ...

Publications

• Laughter and Tears: Thoughts on Faith in the Face of Suffering, Edinburgh: St Andrew Press 1993, ISBN 0715206826.
• The Dream and the Grace: Sermons on Healthy and Unhealthy Religion, Edinburgh: St Andrew Press 2001, ISBN 0715207776.
• An interview with Whyte: Kenneth Roy, "A Present for Mrs Thatcher" in Kenneth Roy, Conversations in a Small Country, Ayr: Carrick Publishing 1989, ISBN 0-946724-22-9, pp 41-8

See: List of Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The following is a list of Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland who currently have their own Wikipedia article or are discussed in other articles on the CofS, plus all Moderators since 1965. ...