OBITUARY

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23673, 25 June 1942, Page 6

OBITUARY

—♦ — THE VERY REV. DR. JOHN DICKIE (P.A.) DUNEDIN,'June 24. The death occurred to-night of the Very Rev. Dr. John Dickie, an outstanding figure in the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. His learning and scholarship were widely recognised.

Dr. Dickie, a former moderator of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, was a distinguished theologian, whose scholarship was highly regarded far beyond the bounds of the Dominion. As a young man his studies were pursued first at Aberdeen University and later at the University of Edinburgh. In 1905 and 1906 he was assistant to Dr. W. P. Paterson, professor of systematic theology at Edin-

burgh University, and then for several years he was minister of the parish of Tarland, in Aberdeenshire. In 1909 Dr. Dickie was appointed professor of systematic theology at the Theological- Hall, Knox College, Dunedin, and in 1924 was made principal of the hall, an office he held up to the time of his death. His first publication was a translation of an important German theological work, Dr. Theodor Haering’s "The Christian Faith.” Later he produced a book outlining the fundamental principles of the Reformed conception of the church, and in 1931 appeared his main contribution to theology, "The Organism of Christian Truth.” This book has been generally accepted as a text book of theology in the divinity halls of the Presbyterian Church. In 1919 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on Dr. Dickie by the University of Aberdeen. In 1937 Dr. Dickie delivered the Gunning lectures at Edinburgh University, his subject being "Fifty Years of British Theology.” He is survived by his wife (a daughter of Mr Thomas Trotter, rector of Trinity Academy, Leith. Scotland) and three sons.