CHALMERS, THOMAS. - Theologian and economist, b. at Anstruther (Fife) in Scotland in 1780, d. in 1847. He pursued his studies at the University of St. Andrews, but gave considerable thought to finding his own path. In 1803, appointed Presbyterian minister of Kilmony, he developed a passion for mathematics and the natural sciences, so much so that in 1805 he obtained the chair of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh.
He then turned his attention to socio-political issues, as evidenced by his first publication, *Inquiry into the extent and stability of national resources* (1808). In his Christian outlook, following the path of his scientific systems, he initially saw nothing more than a philosophical framework of a set of moral maxims. Later, he published his famous article *The Christianity* for the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, which was later printed separately under the title *The evidence and authority of the Christian revelation*, earning him fame as a Christian apologist within Protestantism. In 1815, leaving the chair of mathematics, he devoted himself entirely to the ministry in the Presbyterian church of Tron, in Glasgow. He distinguished himself through his eloquence and his vision of social problems applied to the urgent needs of pastoral care, so much so that he is regarded as a precursor of social Christianity.
To address the state of ignorance and immorality in his parish, he devised a practical plan to revive its spiritual life, “reviving, reshaping, and extending the outdated Scottish parochial economy.” One of his works from 1820 reveals the direction of his thought: *On the application of Christianity to the commercial and ordinary affairs of life*. Two are the aspects of his system of renewal: 1) Faced with modern industrialization, which was creating urbanization and the agglomerations that characterize it, he established that a church should arise for every 2,000 souls. In practical terms, Glasgow alone should have had 20 new churches. Thus was born the “Committee for Church Extension,” and within seven years, 220 new churches were built in Scotland. 2) He proposed an ecclesiastical solution to pauperism, since the poor rate, then levied by the state, seemed to him rather to foster pauperism. He divided his parish into 25 districts and assigned a deacon to each to visit, investigate, and assist the truly needy with parochial offerings, and the result was positive.
Among his works, the following are cited: *The Christian and Civil Economy of Our Large Towns* (1821); *On Political Economy in Connexion with the Moral State and Moral Prospects of Society* (1841).