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<\/span><\/b>I am often asked by friends and students how to begin a serious study of the life and work of Thomas Chalmers.<\/span> <\/span>This is at least partly because I can hardly ever give a lecture, preach a sermon, write an essay, or post a blog without mentioning him.<\/span> <\/span>But even more, it is because reading Chalmers can proved to be an arduous and elusive pursuit.<\/span><\/div>
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Don\u2019t be fooled by the fact that at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Chalmers was heralded as the greatest preacher in the English-speaking world: he is very difficult to read. His vocabulary is vast and unfamiliar, his Scots syntax is peculiar to those of us accustomed to the less circuitous English spoken south of the Tweed, and his pre-Victorian, Regency era rhetorical formalism is quite alien to modern readers and speakers of the King\u2019s Tongue. Plowing through his dense style is more than a little difficult\u2014but it is also very much worth the effort.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>
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It is worth the effort, that is, if you can find his works to plow through. And that is no easy matter either. Virtually all of his books have long been out of print. Reprints are not only few and far between, they tend to be scanned from antiquarian library copies rather than newly, clearly typeset. You can find quite an array of titles in the Google Books and Guttenberg Project digital collections\u2014but, they lack the context that good introductory essays, explanatory footnotes and historical references, and deep indexing might provide. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>
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I have long thought that something like what James Bratt has undertaken to rehabilitate the life and work of Abraham Kuyper (especially his Centennial Reader <\/i>and forthcoming magisterial biography), needs to be done for the life and work of Chalmers. But until someone is able to take up that substantial mantle, we will have to content ourselves with a handful of scattered resources.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>
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The first book that I always send readers to is the short profile by John Roxborough and Stuart Piggen entitled, The St. Andrew Seven <\/i> (Banner of Truth). Though not entirely about Chalmers (most of the text is devoted to six of his students and the way he influenced the trajectory of their lives and ministries) it is nevertheless the best single, accessible work available in a modern edition.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>
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The doctoral thesis of John Roxborogh is likewise very helpful. Thomas Chalmers: Enthusiast For Mission <\/i>(Rutherford House and Paternoster Press) is a concise examination of the parish vision and missional structure Chalmers helped to institutionalize in the Free Kirk.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>
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In terms of biography, the most helpful work currently in print is a single chapter in Iain Murray\u2019s A Scottish Christian Heritage<\/span><\/i> (Banner of Truth). As he always seems to be able to do, Murray captures the heart and soul of both the Gospel message and the human, historical means by which that message is proclaimed in this poor fallen world.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>
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Another helpful doctoral dissertation recently published, but alas now out of print, is Stephen Brown\u2019s <\/span>Thomas Chalmers and the Godly Commonwealth<\/i>(Oxford). Serving as a critical biography, the work affords useful balance to the historical and theological reader.<\/o:p><\/span>
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