Mackay john alexander biography

Born in Inverness, Scotland, Mackay studied philosophy and theology in Aberdeen and Princeton.
MACKAY, JOHN ALEXANDER, Church of England priest, educator, and translator; b.
John A. Mackay (May 17, 1889 – June 9, 1983) was a Presbyterian theologian, missionary, and educator.

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The Legacy of John Alexander Mackay

The Legacy of John Alexander Mackay Samuel Escobar T he missionary legacy of John A. Mackay can bemeasured by the deep mark that his life left in both the church and the world during the twentieth century. When Mackay died in 1983, the impact of his life and teaching upon Latin American culture was summarized by Luis Alberto Sanchez, wellknown historian and literary critic in the Spanish language, who at that time was also vice president of Peru. He wrote that Mackay had been "one of the men to whom Peru and Latin America are indebted the most,"! because of his interpretation of the Latin American spiritual condition. We could add the key role played in Peruvian culture by the school he founded.' and the decisive formative influence he had on the lives of two giants of Latin American history in our century: Jose Carlos Mariategui and Victor Raul Haya de la Torre.' In many of the books of Mackay's library in Princeton, the dedicatory words of Latin American Mackay's life and career were a unique blend of the best of th

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Mackay, John Alexander (1889-1983)

Missiologist, theologian, and leader of the ecumenical movement

Born in Inverness, Scotland, Mackay studied philosophy and theology in Aberdeen and Princeton. When in Spain, he came under the influence of existential philosopher Miguel de Unamuno. This experience gave him a unique understanding of the Iberian soul and permeated his thought with an existential note that explains his unique appeal to Latin Americans. Sent by the Free Church of Scotland with his wife, Jane Logan (Wells), he was a missionary educator in Lima, Peru, from 1916 to 1925, where he was the founder and president of the Anglo-Peruvian school. He then moved to Montevideo, Uruguay, and later to Mexico City, as a traveling lecturer with the YMCA. As a successful evangelist among university students, his influence on well-known Latin American intellectuals was decisive. His forceful plea at the Jerusalem meeting of the International Missionary Council (IMC) in 1928 influenced the ecumenical movement to recognize the legitimacy of a Protestant missionary presence in Latin Ameri

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MACKAY, JOHN ALEXANDER, Church of England priest, educator, and translator; b. 14 July 1838 in Mistassini (Que.), tenth of the twelve children of William McKay and Mary Bunn, who were both of mixed blood; brother of Joseph William McKay*; m. 4 Aug. 1864 Margaret Drever, sister of Jean Anne*, in Red River (Man.), and they had five daughters and one son; d. 26 Nov. 1923 in Battleford, Sask., and was buried in Prince Albert, Sask.

The son and grandson of Hudson’s Bay Company men, John A. Mackay eschewed a career in the fur trade in favour of mission work. He received his initial training as a catechist under the Reverend John Horden* at Moose Factory (Ont.) and then continued his studies in the late 1850s at St John’s College in Red River. His ordination as a priest on 29 May 1862 was part of the mid-19th-century attempt of the Church Missionary Society to create an indigenous native clergy in Rupert’s Land [see James Settee*; Thomas Vincent*].

Mackay went first to York Factory (Man.) (1862–64), moved to The Pas (1864–65), and then transferred to S