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Samuel Rutherford

A new biography of the man and his ministry

Losing the fire?

SAMUEL RUTHERFORD
A new biography of the man and his ministry
By Kingsley G. Rendell
Christian Focus. 192 pages
ISBN 1 85792 262 X

Samuel Rutherford! The name evokes widely different responses.

Many can testify to the value and blessing to be found in reading the incomparable Letters of Samuel Rutherford - a book which 'every dying Christian should have under his pillow' according to Alexander Whyte, Scottish preacher and lecturer. Others, however, dismiss Rutherford's writings, finding they cannot cope with his exotic imagery and flowery language. But whichever way one reacts, there is no doubting the interest which this controversial Covenanter still engenders, judging by the number of internet entries under his name.

This new biography of Samuel Rutherford by Kingsley Rendell is therefore the more welcome. Scholarly and well-researched, it is a careful representation of all the known and many lesser known facts about one who could say of himself, 'I am made of extremes'. With six chapters dealing with Rutherford as a Professor, Pastor, Prisoner, Reformer, Apologist and Protestor, Rendell provides an excellent resource for any one studying or interested in the development of early Scottish Presbyterianism.

We learn of the prominent part which Rutherford played as one of the four Scottish Commissioners to the great Westminster Assembly between 1643 and 1647. The book, however, anticipates considerable background knowledge and may therefore not be suited to the average reader. It would appear to have been written some 20 or 30 years ago, and so necessarily lacks any reference to the wealth of new publications of Rutherford's own writings freely available today.

With most of the issues for which Rutherford so hotly contended now long past, his enduring legacy has undoubtedly been his Letters, many written from Aberdeen while he was under house arrest ù a penalty for his non-conformity to the religious settlement of the day. Although Kingsley Rendell draws much biographical material from the Letters, one cannot help feeling that the soul, life and fire of the grand Covenanter is missing from this book.

Faith Cook,
Breaston, Derbyshire