Irving, Edward

(1792–1834)

   Reputed Sect Founder.

   Irving was born in Annan, Scotland, and was educated at the University of Edinburgh. After serving as an assistant to Thomas Chalmers in Glasgow, he moved to London. First he ministered at the Caledonian Chapel, but his sermons attracted so many that a new church was built in 1827 in Regent Square. He was a friend of coleridge and carlyle and was one of the bestknown churchmen of his time. However, his preaching became wilder and as the more spectacular manifestations of the Spirit became evident, disorder grew. From the pulpit, he deplored Catholic emancipation and any form of political reform. The congregation split. Irving was deprived of his position by the London Presbytery and many of those who remained faithful to him subsequently joined the new Catholic Apostolic Church. Irving, unlike his friend Henry Drummond, was not recognised among their twelve latter-day apostles, so he cannot be regarded as a founder of the movement. In 1833 he was formally excommunicated from the Church of Scotland as his book The Orthodox and Catholic Doctrine of Our Lord’s Human Nature was deemed heretical. He took up a new career as an itinerant preacher, but he died the following year in Glasgow.

   A.L. Drummond, Edward Irving and His Circle (1938);

   H.C. Whitley, Blinded Eagle: An Introduction to the Life and Teaching of Edward Irving (1955);

   C.G. Flegg, Gathered Under Apostles: A Study of the Catholic Apostolic Church (1992).