John Kennedy (1819-1884) of Dingwall, was a Scottish preacher and theologian. He was also a staunch defender of the Reformed Faith who was, as his friend Charles Spurgeon described him, true as steel and firm as a rock.
He was educated in the parish school of Killearnan, and in 1836 went to Aberdeen University. He graduated M.A. at King’s College in 1840, and in the same year entered the theological hall of the established church in Scotland. Kennedy was licensed by the established church in September 1843, but joined the free church and was inducted into a free church newly formed at Dingwall, Rosshire, February 1844. He was pastor of Dingwall Free Church from 1844 until his death in 1884 at the age of 65.
Kennedy was a stalwart opponent of the drift in Scottish Presbyterianism away from the Westminster Confession. I found two significant works of Kennedy available online: The first is Hyper-Evangelism: Another Gospel Part 1, with links to parts 2 thru 5. This was published in 1874 in the wake of, and in response to, an evangelistic campaign by Dwight L. Moody. The features of modern American revivalism brought to Scotland by Moody, and in Kennedy’s mind offensive to the biblical gospel, are traceable to the evangelistic practice of Charles G. Finney (1792-1875).
The second work I would mention is Man’s Relations to God, (at Google Books) published 1869. Within the broader context implied by the title, this treatise includes an impressive effort to resist erosion of the doctrine of the particular design in Christ’s atoning work. Specifically, Kennedy takes on what he terms the “double reference” view of the atonement, which he sees as thoroughly defective. This view may be traced to John Davenant (1576-1641), found in James Ussher (1581-1656), and continuing today in what might be called Low or Moderate Calvinism. Some see it as middle ground between the French Hypothetical Universalism of Moise Amyraut (1596-1644) and the High Calvinist limited atonement views of John Owen and Francis Turretin. Kennedy sees it as incompatible with the WCF and unbiblical at its core.
Other information on Kennedy and his writings may be found HERE.
