Background
Oman, John Wood was born on July 23, 1860 in Stenness, Orkney, Scotland.
Presbyterian minister theologian
Oman, John Wood was born on July 23, 1860 in Stenness, Orkney, Scotland.
Edinburgh, Erlangen, Heidelberg and Neuchâtel Universities, and The United Presbyterian Theological Hall, Edinburgh. /nfls: F. D. E. Schlciermachcr and Albrecht Pitschl.
St James, Paisley; Clayport Street Presbyterian Church. Alnwick, 1888-1907; Professor (1907-1935) and Principal (1922-1935), Westminster College, Cambridge. FBA, 1938.
His titles suggest Oman’s objective of holding together realities sometimes deemed incompatible. He locates the root of religion in our 'immediate sense of the supernatural. In Christianity this is conceived as the personal God who graciously discloses himself to human beings in the context of the realm of nature. The supernatural claims us, but this in such a way that as we realize personhood in relation to God, others and the created order, our freedom is enhanced, not y'olated. Hence Oman’s opposition to author- 'tarianism, whether biblicist, theological or eccleNastical. Oman’s personalism was thrown into the shadows by the theology of the Word. Even his defenders regret his relative weakness on Christology, and his failure to follow through to a fully developed doctrine of the Trinity. But that he fastened upon themes of perennial importance for theology only the most prejudiced will deny. Sources: Dictionary of National Biography and sources there cited; Sell.