ABSTRACT
On January 2, 1758, John Witherspoon entered the High Kirk of Edinburgh ready to preach a sermon, equal parts evangelistic, apologetic, and polemical. Witherspoon, who was born in Yester Parish some 20 miles to the east, had been invited to speak at the annual meeting of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. Witherspoon was concerned that the ‘fundamental doctrines of the gospel’—doctrines like inherited depravity, everlasting damnation, and the necessity of redemption—were being ‘softened’, that ‘modern philosophy’ was polluting ‘ancient Christianity’, and that Christ was being put forward as a teacher and moral reformer rather than as a ‘Saviour’ and ‘our blessed Redeemer’. Several dissertations explore Witherspoon’s political thought and influence in revolutionary America. Several dissertations explore Witherspoon’s relationship to and transmission of the philosophy of Common Sense. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
