Joseph Angus was an English Baptist minister, college head, and biblical scholar.
Life
The only son of John Angus, a farmer and later a leather merchant, by his wife Elizabeth Wanless, he was born at Bolam, Northumberland. His first schooling was at Newcastle, under George Ferris Whidborne Mortimer, who wanted to send him to Cambridge. As a nonconformist and a member of the Baptist church under Thomas Pengilly at Newcastle, he preferred the University of Edinburgh, where he entered in 1834, after passing a year at King's College, London. In 1835, he studied for the Baptist ministry at Stepney College under William Harris Murch. Returning to Edinburgh with a scholarship under Dr. Ward's trust, he graduated M.A. 27 April 1837. In 1838, Angus accepted a call to New Park Street chapel, Southwark. In 1840, he was appointed colleague to John Dyer in the secretaryship of the Baptist Missionary Society, and became sole secretary in 1841; there he was a fundraiser, in particular for the mission house in Moorgate Street. In 1849, he became head of Stepney College, which under his presidency moved to Regent's Park in 1856: he held the post till 1893. The degree of D.D. was conferred on Angus in 1852 by Brown University. From 1859, he was for ten years examiner in English to London University, and in 1865 to the Civil Service Commission. In 1870, he was appointed on the New Testament company for the revision of the King James Bible. He was elected in 1870 for Marylebone to the first London School Board: In all he spent nearly 12 years on the board: from 1870-1873, 1876-1882 and 1894-1897. As a theologian Angus was conservative; in a debate of 1870 he upheld the doctrine of eternal torment. He died at Hampstead on 28 August 1902, and was buried in Norwood cemetery.
His collection of books by Baptist authors formed the basis of the Angus Library now housed at Regent's Park College, and is now the leading collection of Baptist history and heritage worldwide.
Works
Angus's major works were:
The Voluntary System, 1839.
Four Lectures on the Advantages of a Classical Education as auxiliary to a Commercial, 1846.
"The Bible Handbook - An Introduction to The Study of Sacred Scripture" 1855
Christian Churches, 1862; 1864.
Egypt and the Bible, 1863.
Apostolic Missions, 1871; 2nd edit. 1892.
Man, a Witness for Christianity, 1872.
Popular Commentary on the New Testament, 1883.
Six Lectures on Regeneration, 1897.
Angus worked on the bibliography of Baptist authors. Baptist Authors and History, 1527–1800, was printed in the Baptist Handbook in 1894, and issued separately in 1896. As a textbook writer, Angus produced: handbooks to the Bible, to the English language, and to English literature ; and editions of Joseph Butler's Analogy and Sermons and Francis Wayland's Elements of Moral Science. All these were published by the Religious Tract Society.
