BRUCE WALLACETheologian; Born February 21, 1932; Died January 12, 2007 Finlay Squires was a man of many parts: theologian, pastor, politician, debater, teacher, historian, book reviewer (The Glasgow Herald 1962-65), youth worker, singer, sportsman, naturalist, gardener, financial adviser, aficionado of all things Scottish, bon viveur and a family man throughout. Too many parts, perhaps, and one is left wondering how things would look now if he had been single-mindedly ambitious in just one of these roles.

BRUCE WALLACE
Theologian;
Born February 21, 1932;
Died January 12, 2007
Finlay Squires was a man of many parts: theologian, pastor, politician, debater, teacher, historian, book reviewer (The Glasgow Herald 1962-65), youth worker, singer, sportsman, naturalist, gardener, financial adviser, aficionado of all things Scottish, bon viveur and a family man throughout. Too many parts, perhaps, and one is left wondering how things would look now if he had been single-mindedly ambitious in just one of these roles.

The youngest of a large family which had seen hard times, he won a bursary to Kelvinside Academy in 1944, where not only was he a good student but drum major in the school cadet pipe band, house captain and vice-captain of the rugby 1st XV. As a schoolboy, he was an active church member (Croftfoot McNicol Memorial) and founder member of Christian Action Group. And he still found time to grow vegetables, having taken seriously the injunction to dig for victory. Initially a nice little earner, this became a lifelong enthusiasm.

He first went to Aberdeen University (MA), getting immersed in the Student Christian Movement and becoming an Iona Youth Associate. Then it was National Service as an Intelligence Officer with the 1st Battalion Nigeria Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force.

Squires brought all this experience and energy to bear upon divinity studies at Glasgow University, where he graduated BD with distinction (1960). At this pivotal moment, he married Irene Hamilton, a nurse, who proved to be a fundamentally important part of his life and career.

Squires was awarded the first Peter Marshall Fellowship to Princeton Theological Seminary, which included teaching and pastoral duties in pres-byterian churches in Washington, DC, Silver Spring, Maryland, and York, Pennsylvania. Excursions to New York's Union Theological Seminary to meet his friend Alan Main were timed to take in lectures from Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr.

There was also a summer pastorate in Hamilton Ontario. A Brown-Downie Fellowship to Marburg University for further postgraduate study followed, which included afternoon tea on several occasions with Karl Barth. He returned to lecture in Systematic Theology in Glasgow University for three years from 1962.

As a Glasgow student, he had been a vigorous Union debater, gaining first prize for a speech on Central Africa. Both there and in the Labour Club, he rubbed shoulders with some weel-kent figures: John Smith, Donald Dewar, Jimmy Gordon and Donald MacCormick.

Although adopted in 1962 as the Labour parliamentary candidate for Dumfriesshire, he had to withdraw when it was discovered the House of Commons Clergy Disqualification Act of 1801 prevented any Church of Scotland minister from being an MP. Besides, Squires had been, as he was wont to say, "spiritually mugged" by George MacLeod, who was himself well able to combine his left leanings with his renowned and powerful spiritual convictions. Political engagement, however, was not entirely abandoned and from 1966 to 1969, he was an elected member of Stonehaven Town Council.

MacLeod viewed religious education as something of a cop-out but did support Squires when, in 1965, he took up an appointment to lecture in RE at Aberdeen College of Education. The following year, he became principal lecturer and college chaplain, positions he held until his premature retirement in 1987. This period saw massive changes in provision for this school subject. Squires was a strenuous advocate for religious education based on existential encounter and reflective thinking on human issues but he lost this debate and the subject became more information-based than life challenging.

His long experience of interacting with young people informed much of his work as a teacher trainer. He persuaded the college to fund a field study week in Iona for secondary teachers proposing to teach RE, even as a subsidiary subject. Seminal guest speakers, such as Ronald Goldman and Peter McPhail, together with appropriate college lecturers, engaged with students to explore spiritual and ethical matters through all the arts, culminating in a dramatic production as part of the abbey's liturgical cycle. For some student teachers, this week was a life-changing event and many thought it the most worthwhile part of their entire training.

Squires was Glasgow built and some might say he was too content to puff in and out of Stonehaven harbour. Certainly, he faced frustration and disappointment, but he was called to life not ambition, justice not power and, even in his last few difficult months, he enjoyed the love of his remarkable family calmly and, as ever, philosophically. He is survived by his wife, Irene, their three children, Fiona, David and Neil, and two much-loved grandchildren, Andrew and Kirsty.