Ronald George MACINTYRE

MACINTYRE, RONALD GEORGE (b. Melbourne, Vic, 30 Aug 1863; d. Sydney, NSW, 22 June 1954). Presbyterian clergyman and theologian.

Youngest son of Angus Macintyre, a Scottish-born Roman Catholic pastoralist, and Catherine, a Presbyterian, after his father's death in 1864 Ronald Macintyre returned with his mother to Fort William, Scotland, where he was raised a Presbyterian. He was educated at the public school, Fort William, and then spent three years in a solicitor's office undertaking preliminary training in law.

In late adolescence Macintyre experienced a 'great spiritual change' and, offering himself for the Free Church ministry, attended New College, University of Edinburgh (MA 1866; BD 1889, DD 1919). He held pastorates in Birkenhead, England, and Dumfries, Scotland, before accepting nomination, in 1903, to become minister of St Columba's Presbyterian Church, Woollahra, NSW. In 1909, he was appointed professor of systematic theology and apologetics at the Theological Hall, St Andrew's College, University of Sydney. In 1916-18 he served as moderator-general of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. In 1927-34, following his retirement from the Theological Hall, he was managing director of the Burnside Presbyterian Orphan Homes.

An astute politician, prolific fund-raiser, and respected theologian, writer and orator, Macintyre was convenor of the business committee of the General Assembly of Australia for forty years, and at various times served on almost every assembly committee. His admirers pointed to his sagacity and deep commitment to the Presbyterian Church, but those who found themselves the butt of his sometimes Machiavellian diplomacy referred to him, in his absence, as 'King Ronald' or 'the Cardinal'. Macintyre displayed a shrewd ability to align himself with popular causes within the church supporting the cause of 'Australian ministers for an Australian church', promoting and raising funds for theological education, chairing the organising committee of the Chapman-Alexander mission in 1912, and, during World War One, serving as chairman of the State Recruiting Committee. He was appointed OBE in 1918 for his organising ability and stirring oratory in the cause of recruitment, and CMG in 1926. After the war, he turned his attention to the Church Union movement, and assumed increasing responsibility for the financial basis of the church.

As professor of systematic theology at the Theological Hall, Macintyre had a reputation for solid if somewhat impersonal teaching. Courses were taught in a manner which revealed a strong respect for traditional theology, combined with a concern to be intelligently informed about recent trends in theology. In his pre-war theological hall lectures, public speeches and writings he defended evangelical theology against the assaults of rationalism and liberal theology. After the war, however, his examination of the doctrine of Christian eschatology and his wartime experiences caused him to recognise the need for a degree of theological restatement. His defence of a doctrine of potential, or conditional, immortality in The Other Side of Death. A Study of Christian Eschatology (1920) gained him a DD from the University of Edinburgh, and the censure of conservative churchmen, who questioned his orthodoxy and 'loyalty to Christ'. He resolutely denied the charge. Robert Banks, in a survey of Australian theological writings, has described this work, and other works by Macintyre, as a 'sensitive and responsible formulation, and at times reformulation, of the reformed position in the light of advances in biblical scholarship and with a view to the thought-world of the twentieth century'.

In November 1929, Macintyre's critical review of Religious Quests of the Graeco-Roman World, by his former Theological Hall colleague, Samuel Angus, started public debate about Angus's orthodoxy. At first, Macintyre took a conciliatory role in the controversy, eschewing the potentially divisive effects of a heresy case. His attempt to steer a middle course between Angus's modernism and the extreme fundamentalism of some of Angus's opponents placed him in a difficult, often lonely position. As he wrote to a colleague in 1933: '... I had hoped to save both the Church and Angus. I'm met with the bitter enmity of Angus and his supporters, and from the other side by the openly expressed opinion that I am sinking my convictions in order to "white-wash" Angus'. (Macintyre Papers, Ferguson Memorial Library, Sydney) After the publication of Angus's polemic Truth and Tradition, he became a resolute opponent and that year published a pamphlet, “The theology of Dr Angus: a critical review.”

At his funeral service in 1954, Macintyre was described as 'the brightest luminary in the ecclesiastical firmament of our Church since the days of John Dunmore Lang (q.v.)'.

ADB 10; R Banks, 'Fifty Years of Theology in Australia, 1915-1965, Part 1', Colloquium 9, 1, Oct 1976

SELECT WRITINGS: Jesus Christ and Modern Criticism (Sydney, 1911); Comfort and Courage (London, nd); The Other Side of Death: A Study of Christian Eschatology (London, 1920); The Theology of Dr Angus: A Critical Review (Sydney, 1934); The Substance of the Christian Faith (Sydney, 1936)

SUSAN E EMILSEN