Scottish Religious Cultures

Explains the importance of townspeople to the success of the Scottish Reformation of 1559-1560

• Establishes the existence of an urban ‘civic religion’ in Scotland
• Argues for the crucial role of lay townspeople in the success of the Scottish Reformation
• Demonstrates effect of war, plague and economic difficulties during 1540s and 1550s on weakening Scots’ attachment to traditional Catholicism and making them more receptive to Protestantism
• Explains why Scottish Reformation was less violent and divisive than contemporary Reformations in France and Low Countries

Civic Reformation and Religious Change in Sixteenth-Century Scottish Towns demonstrates the crucial role of Scotland’s townspeople in the dramatic Protestant Reformation of 1560. It shows that Scottish Protestants were much more successful than their counterparts in France and the Netherlands at introducing religious change because they had the acquiescence of urban populations. As town councils controlled critical aspects of civic religion, their explicit cooperation was vital to ensuring that the reforms introduced at the national level by the military and political victory of the Protestants were actually implemented.

Focusing on the towns of Dundee, Stirling and Haddington, this book argues that the councillors and inhabitants gave this support because successive crises of plague, war and economic collapse shook their faith in the existing Catholic order and left them fearful of further conflict. As a result, the Protestants faced little popular opposition, and Scotland avoided the popular religious violence and division which occurred elsewhere in Europe.

The first comparative analysis of royalist and Covenanter political thought within a cross-confessional European context

• Situates Scottish political thought in a cross-confessional and transnational European context
• Demonstrates interdisciplinary engagement with political thought, theology and philosophy
• Bridges confessional divides by examining the reception and engagement of Catholic scholastic, Reformed and Lutheran ideas among royalists and Covenanters

During the Scottish Revolution (1637-1651), royalists and Covenanters appealed to Scottish law, custom and traditional views on kingship to debate the limits of King Charles I’s authority. But they also engaged with the political ideas of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Protestant and Catholic intellectuals beyond the British Isles.

This book explores the under-examined European context for Scottish political thought by analysing how royalists and Covenanters adapted Lutheran, Calvinist, and Catholic political ideas to their own debates about church and state. In doing so, it argues that Scots advanced languages of political legitimacy to help solve a crisis about the doctrines, ceremonies and polity of their national church. It therefore reinserts the importance of ecclesiology to the development of early modern political theory.

The first intellectual biography of Alexander Hetherwick, a key figure in Scotland-Malawi relations

• Makes extensive use of rarely consulted primary sources, both in Malawi and in Scotland, with particular attention to Hetherwick’s prolific correspondence
• Includes a fresh account of the dynamics at play in the creation of Malawi as a nation, with special attention to the role played by Scottish missionaries, Hetherwick in particular
• Presents a critical examination of the way in which Blantyre Mission both absorbed and resisted the prevailing racism and colonialism of the early 20th century
• Presents an appraisal of Blantyre Mission’s distinctive philosophy and policy; and of how, under Hetherwick’s leadership, it navigated the social, cultural and political challenges of the early 20th century

Mission, race and colonialism were three forces shaping Malawi’s history during the early years of the twentieth century. These three found a concentrated meeting point in the life of Scottish missionary Alexander Hetherwick, who led Blantyre Mission from 1898 to 1928. This book presents a fresh assessment of this towering figure in Malawi’s history, contesting the scholarly consensus that Hetherwick betrayed the early ideals of Blantyre Mission by compromising too much with the colonial system that was in force during his leadership. The book assesses the pervasive influence of colonialism, from which Hetherwick was not exempt, and traces the ways in which he resisted such influence through his relentless commitment to the interests of the African community and the inspiration he found in the emergence of the African church.

Explores the divergence in popular Evangelicalism between Highlands and Lowlands in late nineteenth-century Scotland

• Follows an accessible chronological and biographical structure
• Draws on primary sources, including Gaelic poetry in translation never before published, sermon notes
• Draws on a recently discovered notebook of Kennedy’s including the first drafts of parts of his book
• Addresses current historical debate over the divergence in Scottish Evangelicalism, presenting an argument for the significance of the leadership of John Kennedy

Alasdair J. Macleod examines the life and ministry of John Kennedy (1819–84), minister of Dingwall Free Church of Scotland. Drawing on Kennedy’s notebooks and published writings, and on source material including unpublished Gaelic poetry, this book explores how Kennedy became the effective leader of the Highland Evangelicals through his preaching, writing and public speaking. Macleod addresses current debate on the divergence in Scottish Evangelicalism and how far Kennedy may have helped to steer the trajectory of Evangelicalism in the Highlands in a conservative direction.

Examines the Free Church of Scotland Mission in South Africa

• Draws substantially on primary and secondary sources from South Africa and Scotland
• Demonstrates the exceptional activity of Scottish missionaries in the field of the development of Christian missions
• Indicates the crucial role played by indigenous Christians in the growth of the mission
• Establishes the history of South African Christianity in the context of racial segregation and apartheid

This book traces the development of the Scottish Presbyterian mission from 1824 until the formation of the Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa in 1923 as the first South African outcome of the three-self movement. It considers the development of this autonomous church, supported by the Free Church of Scotland until 1929, and the Church of Scotland thereafter in the light of its ongoing missionary purpose until its union with the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa in 1999. Drawing from archival sources, Graham A. Duncan documents the history of South African Christianity in the context of racial segregation and apartheid.

The book foregrounds the distinguished history of Scottish Presbyterianism in South Africa. It also presents a significant part of the church history of Scotland, beyond its borders, highlighting the important role played by indigenous Christians in the growth of global Christianity.

Explores the revival and impact of evangelicalism within the Church of Scotland after the Disruption of 1843

• Locates the chronological development of established evangelicalism within the broader context of British imperialism, German biblical criticism, European Romanticism and Victorian print culture
• Based on a diverse range of primary sources, including newspapers, magazines, published sermons, personal correspondence, family papers, and General Assembly reports
• Interacts creatively with a variety of interdisciplinary subfields, including British imperialism, German biblical criticism, European Romanticism, and Victorian print culture

The Revival of Evangelicalism presents a critical analysis of the evangelical movement in the national Church. It emphasises the manner in which the movement both continued along certain pre-Disruption lines and evolved to represent a broader spectrum of Reformed Presbyterian doctrine and piety during the long reign of Queen Victoria. The author interweaves biographical case studies of influential figures who played key roles in the process of revival and recovery, including William Muir, Norman MacLeod and A. H. Charteris. Based on a diverse range of primary sources, the book places the chronological development of established evangelicalism within the broader context of British imperialism, German biblical criticism, European Romanticism and Victorian print culture.

Presbyterianism and the governance of the Church of Scotland at the turn of the eighteenth century

• Examines church and civil records available in Stirling Archives and the National Records of Scotland, as well as memoirs, letters and diaries
• Describes the new Presbyterian regime and the circumstances of its replacement of Episcopal rule
• Provides statistical analysis of the recruitment and experiences of new ministers, their relatiships with each other and heritors
• Considers the survival of support for the episcopal regime locally
• Gives an in-depth examination of local responses to the controversy leading up to the Act of Union

In 1690, the Church of Scotland rejected episcopal authority and settled as Presbyterian. The adjacent Presbyteries of Stirling and Dunblane covered an area that included both lowland and highland communities, speaking both English and Gaelic and supporting both the new government and the old – thus forming a representative picture of the nation as a whole.

This book examines the ways in which the two Presbyteries operated administratively, theologically and geographically under the new regime. By surveying and analysing surviving church records from 1687 to 1710 at Presbytery and parish level, Andrew T. N. Muirhead shows how the two Presbyteries related to civil authorities, how they dealt with problematic discipline cases referred by the Kirk Sessions, their involvement in the Union negotiations and their overall functioning as human, as well as religious, institution in seventeenth-century Scotland. The resulting study advances our understanding of the profound impact that Presbyteries had on those involved with them in any capacity.

A history of post-Disruption Scottish Presbyterian dissent and its religious, political, and social influence

• Emphasises the role of the underexplored United Presbyterian Church in influencing Scottish religious identity in the mid-nineteenth century, thus moving post-Disruption historiography beyond simple comparisons between the Established and Free churches and opening up possibilities for further research into Scottish dissent
• Argues that the changing relationships within Scottish dissent between 1843 and 1863 had a lasting and fundamental impact on Scottish religion for much of the next century, culminating in the formation of the United Free Church in 1900 and the 1929 reunion of the Church of Scotland
• Discusses the important role Scotland’s dissenters played in the major ecclesiastical, political, and social issues of the mid-nineteenth century, such as the debates over the church-state relationship, electoral politics, anti-popery controversies, education reform, and poor law reform
• Based on extensive archival research, including church minutes and financial records, newspapers, and private correspondence between the leading religious and political figures of the period such as Thomas Chalmers

The Disruption of the Church of Scotland was one of the most important events in Victorian Britain and had a profound and lasting impact on Scottish religion, politics and society. This book provides the first detailed account of the two major non-established Presbyterian denominations in the two decades after 1843, which together accounted for roughly half of Scotland’s churchgoers: the Free Church, formed by those who left the Established Church at the Disruption, and the United Presbyterian Church, a consolidation of the various secessions of the previous century.

It explores how the relationship between these churches developed from the bitter feuds over the church-state connection prior to the Disruption to co-operation in the major ecclesiastical, political, and social matters of the day, paving the way to negotiations for merger commencing in 1863. The period between 1843 and 1863 redefined conceptions of what it meant to be Presbyterian and Scottish. By examining a key transitional period in Scottish history, this monograph charts how definitions of Presbyterianism, the Kirk, and dissent evolved as Scotland’s national religion slowly moved from the divisions of the previous century towards eventual reunion in 1929.

Explores the religious cultures, beliefs and imperatives that shaped the Jacobite movement in Scotland

• Brings together research from established academics in the field, emerging and independent scholars and contemporary Episcopalian churchmen
• Provides a fresh examination of the Jacobite movement based not on dynastic identification but on confessional and intellectual bases of support
• Assesses the development of Scottish liturgy from the sixteenth- to the eighteenth-century and the substantial advances made in Scottish ecclesiastical thought and practice

The Revolution of 1688-90 was accompanied in Scotland by a Church Settlement which dismantled the Episcopalian governance of the church. Clergy were ousted and liturgical traditions were replaced by the new Presbyterian order. As Episcopalians, non-jurors and Catholics were side-lined under the new regime, they drew on their different confessional and liturgical inheritances, pre- and post-Reformation, to respond to ecclesiastical change and inform their support of the movement to restore the Stuarts. In so doing, they had a profound effect on the ways in which worship was conducted and considered in Britain and beyond.

This book provides a fresh examination of the Jacobite movement based not on dynastic identification but on confessional and intellectual bases of support, focussing on the composite and nuanced traditions that sustained the Jacobite movement for seven decades beyond the Revolution of 1688-90.

Reveals Scots influence on church and society in South Africa

• Contributes to academic discourse on the historical relationship between mission, empire and colonialism
• Sheds light on the relationships between religion, nationalism, and ethnicity
• Focuses on Scottish–Afrikaner entanglements and tensions over time to create an intermeshed historical narrative of two diverse cultures

Drawing primarily on Dutch and Afrikaans archival sources including the Dutch Reformed Church Archive and private collections this book presents a trans-generational narrative of the influence and role played by diasporic Scots and their descendants in the religious and political lives of Dutch/ Afrikaner people in British colonial southern Africa. It demonstrates how this Scottish religious culture helped to develop a complicated counter-narrative to what would become the mainstream discourse of Afrikaner Christian nationalism in the early 20th century. The reader can expect new perspectives on the ways in which the historical changeover from British Imperial rule to apartheid South Africa was both contradicted, but also in often paradoxical ways facilitated, by the influence and legacies of Scottish religious emissaries.

A rigorous historical investigation of the relationship between religion and psychotherapy in twentieth-century Scotland

• Explores the alliance between psychoanalytic psychotherapy and Scottish Christianity.
• Exposes the continuity running from Christian discourses, practices and organizations to New Age spirituality in Scotland.
• Discusses the work of figures such as radical psychiatrist R. D. Laing, pioneering psychoanalyst W. R. D. Fairbairn, psychotherapist Winifred Rushforth and organizations such as The Davidson Clinic
Although a tide of secularization swept over the post-war United Kingdom, Christianity in Scotland found one way to survive by drawing on alliances that it had built earlier in the century with psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Psychoanalysis was seen as a way to purify Christianity, and to propel it in a scientifically rational and socially progressive direction. This book draws upon a wealth of archival research to uncover the complex interaction between religion and psychotherapy in twentieth-century Scotland. It explores the practical and intellectual alliance created between the Scottish churches and Scottish psychotherapy that found expression in the work of celebrated figures such as the radical psychiatrist R. D. Laing and the pioneering psychoanalyst W. R. D. Fairbairn, as well as the careers of less well-known individuals such as the psychotherapist Winifred Rushforth.

An up-to-date study of one of early modern Scotland’s most remarkable travellers

• Examines the life of George Strachan (1572 – 1635), Scottish Humanist scholar, Orientalist and traveller
• Draws on a wealth of newly discovered archival material to offer new insights into Strachan’s life and work
• Explores Strachan’s key role in advancing European scholarly understanding of Islam and Arabic culture

The book explains the voyages that the Catholic exile took to many of the Catholic courts of Europe as a scholar and spy before turning eastwards to embark upon a 22 year journey around the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires. By becoming fully literate in Arabic and Farsi he was able to gain a unique knowledge of Eastern societies. Strachan’s collection of Arabic and Farsi texts on Islam, philosophy and humanities, which he translated and sent to Europe for the advancement of European knowledge of Islam and Islamic societies, became Strachan’s real intellectual legacy.

Tom McInally provides further insight into King James VI’s dealing with the papacy in the years immediately before his accession to the English throne. He explains European traders’ involvement in the Silk Road and provides an insight into the early ventures of the East India Company in Iran and India<. He outlines Catholic missionary involvement and progress in the Middle East and India in the early 17th century and lists the surviving Arabic and Persian manuscripts that Strachan donated to scholars in Rome. He shows, through the example of Strachan’s own family, the pressures on some of Scotland’s aristocracy and gentry to convert to Calvinism from ‘the Old Faith’

A transnational, biographical perspective on Jewish religious leadership in early twentieth-century Scotland

Kosher haggis, tartan kippot, and Jewish Burns’ Night Suppers: Jews acculturated to Scotland within one generation and quickly inflected Jewish culture in a Scottish idiom. This book analyses the religious aspects of this transition through a transnational perspective on migration in the first three decades of the twentieth century. As immigrants began to outnumber the established Jewish community, and Eastern European rabbis challenged the British Jewish leadership in London, Scottish Jewry underwent momentous changes. The book examines this tumultuous period through a thematic biography of Salis Daiches, Scotland’s most significant rabbi. Drawing on previously unseen archival material, including Rabbi Daiches’ personal correspondence, the book provides a window into the dynamics of Jewish religious life and power relations.

The book utilises a range of archival sources:

• Correspondence between the Chief Rabbi’s office, Scottish congregations, and Salis Daiches
• Records relating to the Conference of Anglo-Jewish Ministers/Preachers from 1909 until 1948
• Minute books of synagogues in Edinburgh and Glasgow; as well as Rabbi Daiches’ personal correspondence

An exploration of poverty and charity in early modern Scotland

This book sets out the importance of charity in Scottish Reformation studies. Based on extensive archival research involving more than thirty parishes, it sheds new light on the practice of poor relief in the century following the Reformation.

John McCallum challenges the assumption that charitable activity was weak and informal in Scotland by uncovering the surviving records of welfare work carried out by the church. And he skilfully demonstrates that kirk sessions were key welfare providers in early modern Scotland and provided effective relief to a range of people who struggled in poverty. In addition to the analysis of specific parish activities, readers gain a rare insight into the lives of the poor Scots who looked to the church for assistance in the early modern era.

Key Features

• Challenges conventional interpretations which stress secularisation in the development of welfare
• The first analysis of the practice of poor relief and experiences of poverty in pre-modern Scotland
• Based on extensive archival research involving over thirty Scottish parishes
• Provides a new interpretation of the nature and effectiveness of pre-modern welfare provision
• Extends Scottish Reformation studies into new territory by considering charity for the first time

An innovative study of George Mackay Brown as a Scottish Catholic writer with a truly international reach

• Shortlisted for the 2018 Ecclesiastical History Society book prize

This lively new study is the very first book to offer an absorbing history of the uncharted territory that is Scottish Catholic fiction. For Scottish Catholic writers of the twentieth century, faith was the key influence on both their artistic process and creative vision.

By focusing on one of the best known of Scotland's literary converts, George Mackay Brown, this book explores both the Scottish Catholic modernist movement of the twentieth century and the particularities of Brown's writing which have been routinely overlooked by previous studies. The book provides sustained and illuminating close readings of key texts in Brown's corpus and includes detailed comparisons between Brown's writing and an established canon of Catholic writers, including Graham Greene, Muriel Spark, and Flannery O'Connor.

This timely book reveals that Brown's Catholic imagination extended far beyond the 'small green world' of Orkney and ultimately embraced a universal human experience.