One of my personal heroes is Scottish Presbyterian minster, Aeneas Sage (1694-1774). I’m not quite sure if everything written about him is totally accurate; I get a whiff of the hagiographic if not the legendary in some of the stories. Yet, something in my gut tells me it is too good and so must be true! (Like a historian friend of mine quipped, ‘If it ain’t true, it should be!’) Whatever the case, Aeneas Sage captivates me, for as a pastor he knew how to captivate an audience – in more ways that one.
Archive for the ‘Gospel Tactics’ Category
All things to all men: a lesson from a Samsonesque Presbyterian
Posted in Church of Scotland, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Gospel Tactics, Highlands & Islands, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, Preaching, The Romance of Locality, Theology of Community on May 13, 2016| 1 Comment »
A ‘diet of catechizing’ in the rough & tumble Highlands
Posted in Catechesis, Diets of Catechizing, Evangelistic Catechesis, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Gospel Tactics, Highlands & Islands, Vignettes from the Old Parish Way on July 23, 2010| 1 Comment »
If you’re Reformed, passionate about evangelism, and not such a ‘frozen chosen’ that you can indulge in a good laugh, then you really need to read about Aeneas Sage. Sage was a Presbyterian minister in the 18th century Scottish Highlands, then a very rough and Roman Catholic region. Sage was a Samsonesque figure, somewhat larger than life. The following is a delightful vignette from his heroic ministry, taken from The Scot of the eighteenth century: his religion and his life, by John Watson (1907). I’m not sure if it is apocryphal – but it sure is enjoyable!
West Port Experiment 