Biography of James Hastings

James Hastings  -  Presbyterian clergyman and encyclopaedist

Hastings was born in Scotland, studied the classics at the University of Aberdeen, attended the Free Church Divinity College in Aberdeen, and was ordained a Free Church minister in 1884. He was the editor of such massive reference works as the Dictionary of the Bible (4 vols. plus supplementary vols.: 1898-1904) and the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (12 vols. plus index vol.: 1908-1921). Hastings was also founder and editor(1889 of the Expository Times.

Much of this editorial work was accomplished while he was a church pastor (retired 1911). His labors grew out of a twofold conviction: the importance of scholarship and its compatibility with essential Christian faith.