The Atonement and the Modern Mind

Professor James Denney, D.D. (1856-1917) was a Scottish theologian and preacher. He was educated at the Highlanders' Academy, Greenock, University of Glasgow, from 1874 to 1879. Denney was influenced by Professor Bruce, adopting his system of apologetics. While still a student Denney published his first work, Natural Law in the Spiritual by a Brother of the Natural Man. In 1886 he was called to be pastor of the East Free Church, Broughty Ferry. Some of his expository sermons were published in two volumes of The Expositor's Bible, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll, The Epistles to the Thessalonians (1892) and The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (1894). Denney's greatest contribution to theological literature is in his defence of the penal character of the atonement. First expressed in his Studies in Theology (1895), it found its fullest expression in The Death of Christ (1902), and its follow-up, The Atonement and the Modern Mind (1903). In his last book, The Christian Doctrine of Reconciliation (1917), Denney returned to the doctrine of the atonement. His works also include: The Expositor's Greek Testament, Jesus and the Gospel (1908) and The Way Everlasting (1913).