James MacKnight
{{Short description|Scottish minister and theological author}}
{{about||the Irish journalist and agrarian reformer|James MacKnight (agrarian reformer)|people with a similar name|James McKnight (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
James MacKnight (1721-1800) was a Scottish minister and theological author, serving at the Old Kirk of Edinburgh (St Giles Cathedral). He is remembered for his book Harmony of the Gospels and as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1769.
Life
File:The Secessionist Church, Infirmary Street, Edinburgh.JPG
File:St Giles' from Parliament Square.png
File:The grave of Very Rev James MacKnight, St Cuthberts Churchyard, Edinburgh.jpg
He was born on 17 September 1721 in the manse in Irvine in Ayrshire the son of Elizabeth Gemmill of Dalraith (d.1753) and her husband, Rev William Mackneight (sic) (d. 1750), the parish minister. The family appear to have originally been called McNaughtane or McNaughton, and came from the Scottish Highlands via Ireland.{{cite web|url=http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/macknight_james.htm|title=Significant Scots - Dr James MacKnight|website=Electricscotland.com|accessdate=2 October 2017}}
He was educated in Irvine then received a theological bursary from the Exchequer and studied theology at the University of Glasgow from 1735 and graduating in 1743 before travelling to Europe to undertake further studies at the University of Leyden, a recognised centre for theological study. Around 1745, having been licensed to preach as a minister of the Church of scotland by the Presbytery of Irvine, he became an assistant at the Chapel of Ease in the Gorbals in south Glasgow. A few years later he assisted the Rev Alexander Ferguson in Kilwinning Church before finally in 1753 receiving his own church, at Maybole not far from his home town of Irvine.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Rev James MacKnight
In 1759 the University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary doctorate (DD). In 1769 he was translated from Maybole to Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders. In the same year he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly. In November 1771 he was translated again, to Lady Yester's Kirk in Edinburgh. In 1778 he made his final move, to the Old Kirk of Edinburgh, one of the four parishes contained in St Giles Cathedral. During this period he befriended the Rev Robert Henry.
In 1784 he became joint collector of the Ministers' Widows' Fund.Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae; by Hew Scott
He died at home at 11 Nicolson StreetEdinburgh Post Office Directory 1800 in Edinburgh on 13 January 1800. As St Giles lacks a graveyard he is buried in St Cuthbert's Churchyard at the west end of Princes Street.{{cite web|url=http://waeve.co.uk/genealogy/sourcefiles/St.Cuthbert%27s_Cemetry.pdf|title=Scottish Records Society : Monumental Inscriptions|website=Waeve.co.uk|accessdate=2 October 2017|archive-date=15 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141115040358/http://waeve.co.uk/genealogy/sourcefiles/St.Cuthbert%27s_Cemetry.pdf|url-status=dead}} The grave lies on a main dividing wall to the north of the church. The main central marble tablet is highly eroded and reference to him is now only visible on the side tablets. The graves of his family surround him.
Publications
- A Harmony of the Four Gospels (1756) (revised 1763)
- The Truth of the Gospel History (1763)
- The Epistle to the Thessalonians (1787)
- The Epistles of St Paul (1787)
- A New Literal Translation from the Original Greek, of All the Apostolical Epistles (in six volumes)
- The Sacred Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists of Jesus Christ: Commonly Styled the New Testament
Family
In April 1754 he married Elizabeth McCormick (1728-1813), daughter of Samuel McCormick, General Exaniber of Excise in Edinburgh.
They had four sons:
- Samuel MacKnight WS (1757-1807)
- James MacKnight (1759-1793)
- Thomas MacKnight (1762-1836) who was also a minister and rose to the highest level in the Church of Scotland as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1820. His son later wrote his biography.{{cite web|url=http://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/M/macknight-james-dd.html|title=Macknight, James, Dd from the McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia.|website=McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia Online|accessdate=2 October 2017}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacKnight, James}}
Category:People from Irvine, North Ayrshire
Category:18th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland
Category:18th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers
Category:Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Category:18th-century Scottish people
Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow