Robert Baron (1596–1639) was a ScottishPresbyterian minister,theologian and one of the so-calledAberdeen doctors. He is commemorated in theCalendar of saints of theScottish Episcopal Church on 28 March.

Born in 1596 atKinnaird, Gowrie, he was the younger son of John Baron of Kinnaird. After graduating from theUniversity of St Andrews in 1613, he became a teacher ofPhilosophy there until, in 1619, he entered the ministry and took charge of parish ofKeith. In the latter charge his predecessor had been the famousPatrick Forbes.

He held this position until 27 October 1624, when he wastranslated toGreyfriars parish,Aberdeen. In the following year, on 21 December 1625, he was appointed as the firstProfessor of Divinity atMarischal College, a post he would hold simultaneously with his charge at Greyfriars. In 1627, he earned hisDoctorate in Divinity, the thesis for which began a long theological dispute withGeorge Turnbull, a ScottishJesuit theologian.

Baron was a firm supporter of theAnglicanising religious policies of KingsJames VI andCharles I. He opposed theNational Covenant of 1638 both through preaching and writings, including three tracts that were co-authored withJohn Forbes, both of whom, along with four others, were referred to by thePresbyterians as "theAberdeen doctors". In this year Baron was nominated to beBishop of Orkney, but was unable to receive consecration. He fled toEngland in the Spring of 1639 to avoid being forced to sign theNational Covenant. He was on his way back to Scotland later in the year, but fell ill and died atBerwick-upon-Tweed on 19 August 1639.

Baron married once, to Jeannée Gibson, a girl fromStrathisla inAberdeenshire. They had four children. Baron left a great number of published and unpublished works. After his death the Covenanters forced his widow to allow them to see his papers, after which they accused him ofArminianism. Followingthe Restoration, the crown paid his family £200 in reward for his loyalty to King Charles I.

• Thompson, Ian M., "Baron, Robert (c.1596–1639)",Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004accessed 5 May 2007

• Works by Robert Baron atPost-Reformation Digital Library

• 1596 births
• 1639 deaths
• Alumni of the University of Aberdeen
• Alumni of the University of St Andrews
• Anglican saints
• People from Perth and Kinross
• Scottish Calvinist and Reformed theologians
• 17th-century Christian saints
• Academics of the University of St Andrews
• 17th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland
• 17th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers
• Academics of the University of Aberdeen
• Scottish religious writers
• Scottish expatriates in England
• 17th-century Scottish theologians
• 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed ministers
• 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians

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