Scotland

Spurlock, R. S. (2020) Scotland. In: Coffey, J. (ed.) Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions, Vol. I The Post-Reformation Era, 1559-1689. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198702238 (doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198702238.003.0009)

Abstract

This chapter addresses the resistance of Scottish Protestantism to division—and indeed a disinclination towards dissent—over the first century and a half of the Reformation, a fact often overshadowed by the secessions of the eighteenth century and the Disruption of 1843. Despite intense debates over ecclesiastical governance, two principles set out from the beginning of Scotland’s Reformation shaped the nation’s Protestant experience: a widespread belief in a covenanted obligation for national Protestant reform and an emphasis on the rights of the congregation. These principles led to sometimes competing ideals of national uniformity and at the same time a resistance to centralized authoritarian ecclesiastical governance. These impulses are what created the milieu in which the distinctiveness of Scottish Protestantism developed prior to the intervention of the Westminster parliament in 1712.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Spurlock, Professor Scott
• Authors: Spurlock, R. S.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Theology and Religious Studies
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• ISBN: 9780198702238
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © Oxford University Press 2020
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy