Shaw, Robert (1795-1863), theologian. A native of Perth, he was educated at Edinburgh University and under Archibald Bruce at the divinity hall of the Associate Presbytery in Whitburn, West Lothian. In 1817, he was ordained to follow Bruce in Whitburn, where he remained until his death. He was synod clerk for the Original Secession Church from 1834 until he and the majority of the synod joined the Free Church in 1852. His Exposition of the Westminster Confession (Edinburgh, 1845) is the most thorough commentary by a Scottish Presbyterian. Writing in sympathy with its writers, Shaw elucidates the opposing views against which the Confession was framed. Shaw wrote articles for the Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review, and received the DD from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1851. Other publications include Reflections on the Translation of Elijah (Edinburgh, 1835); and The New Theology Examined (Edinburgh, 1843), on the nature and extent of the atonement. – Sherman Isbell
From: Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology (Organizing editor: Nigel M. de S. Cameron; General editors: David F. Wright, David C. Lachman, and Donald E. Meek) (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), p. 770.
