# John "Rabbi" Duncan



## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 13, 2008)

John "Rabbi" Duncan, Scottish Presbyterian (1796 -- February 26, 1870) was a missionary to the Jews in Budapest and later as a much-loved professor in New College, Edinburgh. He was known for his pithy sayings, as well as his knowledge of Hebrew and his Christian love for the Jews. Among his sayings:

"I'm first a Christian, next a catholic, then a Calvinist, fourth an evangelical, and fifth a Presbyterian. I cannot reverse this order."

"Christ either deceived mankind by conscious fraud, or He was Himself deluded and self-deceived, or He was Divine. There is no getting out of this trilemma. It is inexorable."

David Brown's biography of Rabbi Duncan is available online here; William Knight's _Colloquia Peripatetica: Deep-sea Soundings : Being Notes of Conversations With the Late John Duncan, LL.D._ is available online here.


----------



## Reformed Covenanter (Jan 13, 2008)

Didn't he once say that Arminianism was "all door with no house", while hyper-Calvinism was "all house with no door".


----------



## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 13, 2008)

Daniel Ritchie said:


> Didn't he once say that Arminianism was "all door with no house", while hyper-Calvinism was "all house with no door".



 Yes, it is found on p. 156 of _Colloquia Peripatetica_.


----------

