James S. Thomson

The Very Reverend James Sutherland Thomson FRSC
President of the University of Saskatchewan
In office 1937–1949
Preceded by	Walter Charles Murray
Succeeded by	Walter P. Thompson
17th Moderator of the United Church of Canada
In office 1956–1958
Preceded by	George Dorey
Succeeded by	Angus J. MacQueen
Personal details
Born	(1892-04-30)April 30, 1892 Stirling, Scotland
Died	November 18, 1972(1972-11-18) (aged 80) Montreal, Quebec

James Sutherland Thomson FRSC (April 30, 1892 – November 18, 1972) was a Canadian academic and Christian minister, a president of the University of Saskatchewan, and the 17th Moderator of the United Church of Canada.

Biography

Born in Stirling, Scotland, Thomson was educated at the University of Glasgow. He studied theology at Trinity College, Glasgow, and was ordained in the Church of Scotland in 1920. Upon moving to Canada in 1930, he accepted an appointment as professor of systematic theology and philosophy of religion at Pine Hill Divinity Hall (now part of the Atlantic School of Theology) in Halifax, Nova Scotia. From 1937 to 1949, he was the second president of the University of Saskatchewan. During World War II, he was general manager of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from 1942 to 1943.

In 1949, he became dean of the newly formed Faculty of Divinity at McGill University and also served there as professor of religious studies. He retired as dean in 1957. From 1956 to 1958, he served as Moderator of the United Church of Canada, elected by the 17th General Council at their meeting in Windsor, Ontario. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1942. In 1967 the Ryerson Press published The Church in the Modern World, a collection of essays in his honour.