Cunningham, WILLIAM

Cunningham, WILLIAM, a distinguished Scotch theologian, was born at Hamilton in 1805, educated at Dunns and Edinburgh, and ordained minister at Greenock in 1830. He was called to Trinity College Church, Edinburgh, in 1834, and soon became one of the foremost leaders, alike on the platform and in the pamphlet, on the 'Non-intrusionist' side in the great controversy that preceded the Disruption of 1843. He was appointed professor of Theology in the Free Church College in 1843, of Church History in 1845, and its principal on Chalmers's death in 1847. His D.D. degree was given him by Princeton in 1842. He was moderator of the Free Assembly in 1859, when he received a testimonial amounting to over £7000. He died at Edinburgh, 14th December 1861. His literary executors published from his MSS. Historic Theology: a Review of the Principal Doctrinal Discussions in the Christian Church (1862), Reformers and Theology of the Reformation (1862), and Discussions on Church Principles (1863). See his Life, by Rainy and Mackenzie (1871).