Introduction

Biography

Ian was the son of James Pitt-Watson, Mod­er­at­or of the Ge­ne­ral As­sem­bly of the Church of Scot­land, and Queen’s Chap­lain.

Ian grew up in his father’s manse in Al­loa, and at­tend­ed Dol­lar Aca­de­my, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ed­in­burgh (dou­ble first in phi­lo­so­phy and mor­al phi­lo­so­phy) and the Roy­al Aca­de­my of Mu­sic in Lon­don.

He be­came a Pres­by­ter­ian min­is­ter in 1950, and served at the Ca­thed­ral Church of St. Giles in Ed­in­burgh. Two years lat­er, he be­came a chap­lain at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ab­er­deen, where he served un­til 1958.

He also pas­tored at St. James, For­far, and, in 1961, New Kil­pat­rick in Bears­den. In 1974, he re­turned to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ab­er­deen to teach.

In 1980, he moved to Full­er Theo­lo­gic­al Sem­in­ary, Pa­sa­de­na, Ca­li­for­nia, where he was a pro­fess­or of preach­ing and prac­ti­cal theo­lo­gy.

In ad­di­tion to his aca­dem­ic du­ties, from 1946–80, Pitt-Wat­son re­gu­lar­ly preached on the BBC and ITV, and in 1962 pre­sent­ed the ra­dio series Why I Be­lieve to Scot­tish au­di­enc­es.

• Preaching: A Kind of Fol­ly, 1976
• A Prim­er for Preach­ers, 1986