The Plain Man Looks at the Beatitudes

by William Barclay

The Plain Man Looks at the Beatitudes Barclay, William

Genres: Spirituality

124 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

WIlliam Barclay was a Scottish author, radio and television presenter, Church of Scotland minister, and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow. He wrote a popular set of Bible commentaries on the New Testament that sold 1.5 million copies.

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 5 out of 5]

The indispensably Great William Barclay really threw me for a loop before he died.

He made a widely-publicized off-the-cuff too-comfortably-at-home remark to a visitor who happened to be a reporter. You can still probably find it easily with the most elementary Google know-how.

It chalked up a clear point for the Enemy.

I understand - I’m now almost at the age when he made it - and happily retired old folks like us DO let their guard down.

I do it all the time. So you may have noticed my constant cleaning up of old GR posts! I’m a happy guy like he was. But edgier?

So it was too much for me.

I swore off his remarkably good books of exegesis, clarification and laudable evangelism for a long, long time.

Until today.

You see, I was resting upstairs beside one of my treasures: my night table book case.

I saw a loose book in the Christian writings row.

I picked it up.

And it all came back!

The simple majestic Glaswegian rumbling cadences, rolling transparently and with inexorable logic ever onward into the writer’s characteristic inescapable rhetorical vortex, revealing right in your deepest heart the only available option: Belief.

Yes. For at the end of a breathlessly paced paragraph or two, you are left in Absolute Awe of the man.

THIS is five star Christian writing as it should be.

So...

If one day you should sense, or be led by the afore-mentioned tidbit of gossip to the conclusion that Barclay wasn’t a TRUE Believer...

THINK AGAIN.

For he WAS -

And every jot & every tittle as much as his Saviour was!

And even though this famous man almost denied the divinity of Jesus in one of those crazy lettings off of steam we seniors sometimes allow ourselves...

THIS book proves the opposite POV was perpetually in his heart.

[Larry Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Barclay is one of the sharpest minds to have written biblical material. no one knows the original languages and culture like he does. all his books are excellent resources for Bible teachers and those seeking to deepen their understanding of scripture.

[Steffi Greeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely one of the best religious /theological books I've read. Simple, clear, true to Scripture and life-changing. Everything that good theology should be.

[David Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

My edition also contains teaching on the Lords' Prayer. Barclay is generally good on the Beatitudes of Jesus. Lots of historical and exegetical background. In the top five of 12 books I read recently on the Beatitudes.

[Des · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely read. Barclay is very well researched and unfurls the beauty and power of the beatitudes in a very relatable way. Certainly one to read again, with Matthew 5 open and a pencil ready.

[David Campton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an old book, and in many ways very old -fashioned, but as in many of his books Barclay manages to combine an academic/theological depth with an everyday touch and application that eludes many contemporary Christian authors. And whilst many will dismiss his approach as "liberal" it is still founded on the belief that he articulates in his epilogue that you cannot have Christian ethics, without having a personal Christian faith, and thus his over-arching thesis in this slim volume is that whilst the Beatitudes have much to say to the wider world, that they cannot be used as the basis of a "new world order" unless Christ is at the centre of that new world.

[Andrew William · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed insight into who the beatitudes are based on and how they are applied to daily life