The Sandemanian Story
The Social and Religious Context of a Scottish Non-Presbyterian Dissenting Community
Foreword by David W. Bebbington
Imprint: Pickwick Publications
The Glasites or Sandemanians were a branch of the church with their roots in Scotland, but who spread much wider. This study seeks to explore their distinctives, both of theology and practice, and to place them in a wider context. The examination of a small sect serves to illuminate the wider story, and this particular community nurtured within it several eminent thinkers whose influence has been of deep importance--not the least, the scientific pioneer Michael Faraday. In exploring both their growth and their decline, the author seeks to convey something of the flavor of this part of the church and to consider what their legacy is.
Derek B. Murray was a Scottish Baptist minister and historian. He served in several churches and taught in the Scottish Baptist College and was chaplain of St. Columba’s Hospice for twenty years, writing significantly about the care of the dying. He published several books and articles on Scottish Baptist history, was long-term chairman of the Scottish Baptist History Project, and from 2008 to 2011 was president of the Scottish Church History Society. He died in 2022.
“This is a detailed study of a little-known Dissenting Community which combines a richly informed social and ecclesial context with a thoroughly researched and well-told narrative. This is the work of a mature historian steeped in the history and theology of Dissenting life and thought. Like the best church history, this book is an education in the human, social, religious, and psychological dimensions of a Christian community content to be at the edges, but worthy of our attention.”
—James Gordon, honorary research fellow, School of Divinity, University of Aberdeen
“The story of the congregational Glasite Church in Scotland, known elsewhere as Sandemanians, needed to be told. The late Derek Murray was the ideal person to write it. He has placed us in his debt with this excellent, very readable, account of their history. It is warmly commended.”
—Brian R. Talbot, senior research fellow, International Baptist Theological Seminary
“The author demonstrates an encyclopedic knowledge of Scottish church history, locating the Glasite movement within the wider context of different expressions of dissent within Scottish Presbyterianism. The book helpfully delineates the theological interpretation of John Glas, contrasting and comparing this with the broader religious world of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is a well-researched book, written in clear prose, and with a vivid description of people and events of Scottish history.”
—Kenneth B. E. Roxburgh, professor emeritus of religion, Samford University