William Hastie
| William Hastie | |
|---|---|
William Hastie
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| Born |
William Hastie 7 July 1842 Wanlockhead, Dumfriesshire |
| Died | 31 August 1903 (aged 61) Edinburgh |
| Occupation | Educator, translator and writer |
William Hastie (7 July 1842 – 31 August 1903) was a Scottish clergyman and theologian. He produced the first English translation of the Universal Natural History and Theory of Heaven, by Immanuel Kant. Hastie led the General Assembly's Institution in Calcutta, where he was credited with developing the Hindu advocate Swami Vivekananda. Hastie recovered from a ruinous libel case in Calcutta to become the Professor of Divinity at University of Glasgow.
William Hastie was born on 7 July 1842 at Wanlockhead in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He entered the University of Edinburgh in 1859 and graduated with an M.A. in Philosophy in the First Division in 1867 and further with a B.D. in 1869.
He further studied at the University of Glasgow in 1870 and 1871, under John Caird, Professor of Divinity. Hastie studied further in the Netherlands and Germany and became fluent in German. In 1875, he decided to become a probationer in the Church of Scotland so that he could teach abroad. Three years later, he was on a ship bound from Liverpool to Calcutta.
In 1878 Hastie was appointed principal of the General Assembly's Institution in Calcutta.
According to a legend, Narendranath Datta (the future Swami Vivekananda) was first introduced to Indian mystic Ramakrishna in a literature class, given by Hastie. While lecturing on William Wordsworth's poem, The Excursion, Hastie suggested to his students that they visit Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar to understand the true meaning of the phenomenon of "trance". Rajagopal Chattopadhyaya attributes the legend to a classmate of Narendranath, Haramohan Mitra. Hastie must have inspired his students, because several went on to find out more about meditation.
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