History of Christianity in Scotland

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"History of religion in Scotland" redirects here. For the history of other religions in Scotland, see Religion in Scotland § History.
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The history of Christianity in Scotland includes all aspects of the Christianity in the region that is now Scotland from its introduction up to the present day. Christianity was first introduced to what is now southern Scotland during the

Celtic church
accepted Roman practices in the mid-seventh century.

Christianity in Scotland is often said to have been strongly influenced by monasticism, with abbots being more significant than bishops, although both Kentigern and Ninian were bishops.[2] “It is impossible now to generalise about the nature or structure of the early medieval church in Scotland”.[3] In the Norman period, there was a series of reforms resulting in a clearer parochial structure based around local churches and large numbers of new monastic foundations, which followed continental forms of reformed monasticism, began to predominate. The Scottish church also established its independence from England, developing a clear diocesan structure and becoming a "special daughter of the see of Rome", but it continued to lack Scottish leadership in the form of Archbishops. In the late Middle Ages the crown was able to gain greater influence over senior appointments, and two archbishoprics had been established by the end of the fifteenth century. There was a decline in traditional monastic life, but the mendicant orders of friars grew, particularly in the expanding burghs. New saints and cults of devotion also proliferated. Despite problems over the number and quality of clergy after the Black Death in the fourteenth century, and evidence of heresy in the fifteenth century, the Church in Scotland remained stable.

During the sixteenth century, Scotland underwent a

Bishop's Wars in 1639–40, ending in virtual independence for Scotland and the establishment of a fully Presbyterian system by the dominant Covenanters. After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, Scotland regained its kirk, but also the bishops. Particularly in the south-west, many of the people began to attend illegal field conventicles. Suppression of these assemblies in the 1680s known as "the Killing Time". After the "Glorious Revolution
" in 1688 Presbyterianism was restored.

The late eighteenth century saw the beginnings of a fragmentation of the

Episcopalianism retained supporters, but declined because of its associations with Jacobitism. Beginning in 1834, the "Ten Years' Conflict" ended in a schism from the church led by Dr Thomas Chalmers known as the Great Disruption of 1843. Roughly a third of the clergy, mainly from the North and Highlands, formed the separate Free Church of Scotland. The evangelical Free Churches grew rapidly in the Highlands and Islands. In the late nineteenth century, the major debates were between fundamentalist Calvinists and theological liberals resulted in a further split in the Free Church, as the rigid Calvinists broke away to form the Free Presbyterian Church
in 1893.

From this point there were moves towards reunion that would ultimately result in the majority of the Free Church rejoining the Church of Scotland in 1929. The schisms left small denominations, including the

Pentecostal churches. Although some denominations thrived, after World War II there was a steady overall decline in church attendance and resulting church closures for most denominations. Other denominations in Scotland include the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
.

Middle Ages

Main article: Christianity in Medieval Scotland

Early Christianity

The 9th century St Martin's Cross, with St John's cross in the background, stands outside the entrance to Iona Abbey

Christianity was probably introduced to what is now southern Scotland during the Roman occupation of Britain.

Brythonic enclaves such as Strathclyde, but retreated as the pagan Anglo-Saxons advanced into what is now the Lowlands of Scotland.[6]

In the sixth century, missionaries from Ireland were operating on the British mainland. This movement is traditionally associated with the figures of

Northumbrian church, after the Bernician takeover of Whithorn and conquest of southern Galloway.[7] The name itself is a scribal corruption of Uinniau ('n's and 'u's look almost identical in early insular calligraphy), a saint of probable British extraction who is also known by the Gaelic equivalent of his name, Finnian.[8] Little is known of St Kentigern (died 614), who probably worked in the Strathclyde region.[9] St Columba was probably a disciple of Uinniau. He left Ireland and founded the monastery at Iona off the West Coast of Scotland in 563 and from there carried out missions to the Scots of Dál Riata, who are traditionally seen as having colonised the West of modern Scotland from what is now Ireland, and the Picts, thought to be the descendants of the Caledonians that existed beyond the control of the Roman Empire in the North and East. However, it seems likely that both the Scots and Picts had already begun to convert to Christianity before this.[10]

Celtic Church

Main article:
Celtic Church
Cathedral of St Andrew in St Andrews, Fife

Early

Nechtan mac Der Ilei. The reported expulsion of Ionan monks and clergy by Nechtan in 717 may have been related to the controversy over the dating of Easter, and the manner of tonsure, where Nechtan appears to have supported the Roman usages, but may equally have been intended to increase royal power over the church.[14] Nonetheless, the evidence of place names suggests a wide area of Ionan influence in Pictland.[15]

Gaelic monasticism

Ratisbon

Physically Scottish monasteries differed significantly from those on the continent, and were often an isolated collection of wooden huts surrounded by a wall.

hermits, others lived beside or within existing monasteries.[19] In most cases, even after the introduction of new forms of reformed monasticism from the eleventh century, these Céli Dé were not replaced and the tradition continued in parallel with the new foundations until the thirteenth century.[20]

Scottish monasticism played a major part in the

Benedictine establishments in what is now Germany. Scottish monks, such as St Cathróe of Metz, became local saints in the region.[21]

Continental monasticism

Main article:
Abbeys and priories in Scotland
Dundrennan Abbey, one of the new continental monasteries founded in the 12th century.

The introduction of continental forms of monasticism to Scotland is associated with Saxon princess

Knights Hospitallers being given Torphichen, West Lothian.[18]

Ecclesia Scoticana

Bishoprics in Medieval Scotland.

Before the

Sixtus IV
.

Clerics

Up until the early fourteenth century, the Papacy minimised the problem of clerical pluralism, but with relatively poor livings and a shortage of clergy, particularly after the Black Death, in the fifteenth century the number of clerics holding two or more livings rapidly increased.

venality and nepotism.[26] Despite this, relationships between the Scottish crown and the Papacy were generally good, with James IV receiving tokens of papal favour.[24]

Saints

Main article: List of saints of Scotland
The Monymusk Reliquary, or Brecbennoch, dates from c. 750, and purportedly enclosed bones of Columba

Like every other Christian country, one of the main features of Medieval Scotland was the

Three Kings and the Apostles, would become more significant in Scotland.[34]

Popular religion

Main article:
Popular religion in Scotland
The University of St Andrews and key figure in fighting Lollardy

Traditional Protestant historiography tended to stress the corruption and unpopularity of the late medieval Scottish church, but more recent research has indicated the ways in which it met the spiritual needs of different social groups.

Lollardry, began to reach Scotland from England and Bohemia in the early fifteenth century, but despite evidence of a number of burnings and some apparent support for its anti-sacramental elements, it probably remained a relatively small movement.[39]

Early modern

Reformation

Main article: Scottish Reformation
Scottish Protestant at prayer. A statue in Culross Abbey

Early Protestantism

During the sixteenth century, Scotland underwent a

St. Andrews on the orders of Cardinal Beaton, did nothing to stem the growth of these ideas. Wishart's supporters, who included a number of Fife lairds, assassinated Beaton soon after and seized St. Andrews Castle, which they held for a year before they were defeated with the help of French forces. The survivors, including chaplain John Knox, being condemned to be galley slaves, helping to create resentment of the French and martyrs for the Protestant cause.[41]

Reformation settlement

Limited toleration and the influence of exiled Scots and Protestants in other countries, led to the expansion of Protestantism, with a group of lairds declaring themselves

Presbyterian system and rejected most of the elaborate trappings of the Medieval church.[43] By the 1590s Scotland was organized into about fifty presbyteries with about twenty ministers in each. Above them stood a dozen or so synods and at the apex the general assembly.[44] This gave considerable power within the new kirk to local lairds (landowners), who often had control over the appointment of the clergy, and resulting in widespread, but generally orderly, iconoclasm. At this point the majority of the population was probably still Catholic in persuasion and the kirk would find it difficult to penetrate the Highlands and Islands, but began a gradual process of conversion and consolidation that, compared with reformations elsewhere, was conducted with relatively little persecution.[43]

James VI

Main article: James VI and I

The reign of the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots eventually ended in civil war, deposition, imprisonment and execution in England. Her infant son James VI was crowned King of Scots in 1567.[45] He was brought up as a Protestant, while the country was run by a series of regents.[46] After he asserted his personal rule from 1583 he favoured doctrinal Calvinism, but also episcopacy. His inheritance of the English crown led to rule via the Privy Council from London. He also increasingly controlled the meetings of the Scottish General Assembly and increased the number and powers of the Scottish bishops. In 1618, he held a General Assembly and pushed through Five Articles, which included practices that had been retained in England, but largely abolished in Scotland, most controversially kneeling for the reception of communion. Although ratified, they created widespread opposition and resentment and were seen by many as a step back to Catholic practice.[47]

Seventeenth century

Main article: Scottish religion in the seventeenth century
St Giles Cathedral
that sparked off the Bishops' Wars.

Covenanters

Main article:
Covenanter

James VI was succeeded by his son

John Spottiswood, Archbishop of St. Andrews, eventually making him chancellor. At the beginning of his reign, Charles' revocation of alienated lands since 1542 helped secure the finances of the kirk, but it threatened the holdings of the nobility who had gained from the Reformation settlement.[48] In 1635, without reference to a general assembly of the Parliament, the king authorised a book of canons that made him head of the Church, ordained an unpopular ritual and enforced the use of a new liturgy. When the liturgy emerged in 1637 it was seen as an English-style Prayer Book, resulting in anger and widespread rioting, said to have been set off with the throwing of a stool by one Jenny Geddes during a service in St Giles Cathedral. The Protestant nobility put themselves at the head of the popular opposition. Representatives of various sections of Scottish society drew up the National Covenant on 28 February 1638, objecting to the King's liturgical innovations.[49] The king's supporters were unable to suppress the rebellion and the king refused to compromise. In December 1638 at a meeting of the General Assembly in Glasgow, the Scottish bishops were formally expelled from the Church, which was then established on a full Presbyterian basis.[50]

War of Three Kingdoms

Main article:
War of Three Kingdoms
Engagement
, by which he agreed to the Covenants

The Scots and the king both assembled armies and after two

Bishop's Wars in 1639 and 1640 the Scots emerged the victors. Charles capitulated, leaving the Covenanters in independent control of the country. He was forced to recall the English Parliament, resulting in the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642.[51] The Covenanters sided with Parliament and in 1643 they entered into a Solemn League and Covenant, guaranteeing the Scottish Church settlement and promising further reform in England.[52] By 1646 a Royalist campaign in the Highlands and the Royalists in England had been defeated and the king had surrendered.[53] Relations with the English Parliament and the increasingly independent English New Model Army became strained and control of Scotland fell to those willing to compromise with the king. The resulting Engagement with the King led to a Second Civil War and a defeat for a Scottish invading army at Battle of Preston, by the New Model Army led by Oliver Cromwell. After the coup of the Whiggamore Raid, the Kirk Party regained control in Scotland.[54]

Commonwealth

Main article: Scotland under the Commonwealth

After the execution of the king in January 1649 England was declared a

Protesters who wished to purge the Kirk of such associations. Subsequently, the divide between rival camps became almost irrevocable.[56] The regime accepted Presbyterianism as a valid system, but did not accept that it was the only legitimate form of church organisation and the Kirk functioned much as before.[57] Toleration, did not extend to Episcopalians and Catholics, but if they did not call attention to themselves they were largely left alone.[57]

Restoration

Main article: Restoration (Scotland)
James VII of Scotland (and II of England), who was deposed for his Catholicism in 1688

After the

Sir George Mackenzie, the Lord Advocate.[62]

Glorious Revolution

Main article: Glorious Revolution in Scotland

Charles died in 1685 and his brother succeeded him as James VII of Scotland (and II of England).

religious toleration to Roman Catholics, alienating his Protestant subjects. It was believed that the king would be succeeded by his daughter Mary, a Protestant and the wife of William of Orange, Stadtholder of the Netherlands, but when in 1688, James produced a male heir, James Francis Edward Stuart, it was clear that his policies would outlive him. An invitation by seven leading Englishmen led William to land in England with 40,000 men, and James fled, leading to the almost bloodless "Glorious Revolution". The final settlement restored Presbyterianism in Scotland and abolished the bishops, who had generally supported James. However, William, who was more tolerant than the kirk tended to be, passed acts restoring the Episcopalian clergy excluded after the Revolution.[63]

Modern

Eighteenth century

Main article: Scottish religion in the eighteenth century
Scottish minister and his congregation, c.1750

The late eighteenth century saw the beginnings of a fragmentation of the

Evangelical Revival of the later eighteenth century.[65]

Long after the triumph of the Church of Scotland in the Lowlands, Highlanders and Islanders clung to an old-fashioned Christianity infused with animistic folk beliefs and practices. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later eighteenth century saw some success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society.[66] Catholicism had been reduced to the fringes of the country, particularly the Gaelic-speaking areas of the Highlands and Islands. Conditions also grew worse for Catholics after the Jacobite rebellions and Catholicism was reduced to little more than a poorly-run mission. Also important was Episcopalianism, which had retained supporters through the civil wars and changes of regime in the seventeenth century. Since most Episcopalians had given their support to the Jacobite rebellions in the early eighteenth century, they also suffered a decline in fortunes.[64]

Nineteenth century

Main article: Scottish religion in the nineteenth century
Thomas Chalmers statue, Edinburgh

After prolonged years of struggle, in 1834 the Evangelicals gained control of the General Assembly and passed the Veto Act, which allowed congregations to reject unwanted "intrusive" presentations to livings by patrons. The following "Ten Years' Conflict" of legal and political wrangling ended in defeat for the non-intrusionists in the civil courts. The result was a schism from the church by some of the non-intrusionists led by Dr Thomas Chalmers known as the Great Disruption of 1843. Roughly a third of the clergy, mainly from the North and Highlands, formed the separate Free Church of Scotland. The evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly in the Highlands and Islands, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.[66] Chalmers's ideas shaped the breakaway group. He stressed a social vision that revived and preserved Scotland's communal traditions at a time of strain on the social fabric of the country. Chalmers's idealized small equalitarian, kirk-based, self-contained communities that recognized the individuality of their members and the need for cooperation.[67] That vision also affected the mainstream Presbyterian churches, and by the 1870s it had been assimilated by the established Church of Scotland. Chalmers's ideals demonstrated that the church was concerned with the problems of urban society, and they represented a real attempt to overcome the social fragmentation that took place in industrial towns and cities.[68]

In the late nineteenth century, the major debates were between fundamentalist Calvinists and theological liberals, who rejected a literal interpretation of the Bible. This resulted in a further split in the Free Church as the rigid Calvinists broke away to form the

Free Church.[64]

Diagram showing the lineage of Scottish churches with many schisms and complex reunifications over a 500-year period
Timeline diagram showing the lineage of Scottish churches with various schisms and complex reunifications between 1560 and the present day

Salvation Army, which attempted to make major inroads in the growing urban centres.[65]

Contemporary Christianity

Main article: Religion in Scotland
An Orange Order march in Glasgow

In the twentieth century, existing Christian denominations were joined by other organisations, including the

Congregationalists, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 5.5 per cent did not state a religion. There were 27.5 per cent who stated that they had no religion (which compares with 15.5 per cent in the UK overall).[69][70] Other more recent studies suggest that those not identifying with a denomination or who see themselves as non-religious may be much higher at between 42 and 56 per cent, depending on the form of question asked.[71]

The

Protestant team, Rangers have retained sectarian identities. Celtic have employed Protestant players and managers, but Rangers have a tradition of not recruiting Catholics.[78]

Notes and references

  1. ^ Michael Lynch (ed) The Oxford Companion to Scottish History OUP 2007, p78
  2. ^ ibid p78
  3. ^ ibid p79
  4. ISBN 0-903903-24-5
    , p. 63.
  5. ISBN 086054138X
    , p. 93.
  6. ISBN 0809138948
    , p. 21.
  7. ISBN 0520218590
    , pp. 79–80.
  8. ^ Thomas Owen Clancy, "The real St Ninian", in The Innes Review, 52 (2001).
  9. ISBN 0-7509-2977-4
    , p. 46.
  10. ISBN 0748601007
    , pp. 82–3.
  11. ^ Clancy, "'Nennian recension'", pp. 95–96, Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, pp. 82–83.
  12. ^ Markus, "Conversion to Christianity".
  13. ^ Mentioned by Foster, but more information is available from the Tarbat Discovery Programme: see under External links.
  14. ^ Bede, IV, cc. 21–22, Clancy, "Church institutions", Clancy, "Nechtan".
  15. ^ Taylor, "Iona abbots".
  16. ISBN 0889201668
    , pp. 77–89.
  17. ISBN 005003183X
    , pp. 104–05.
  18. ^
    ISBN 0-7509-2977-4
    , pp. 117–128.
  19. ISBN 0333567617
    , p. 58.
  20. ISBN 0-7509-2977-4
    , p. 121.
  21. ^ David N. Dumville, "St Cathróe of Metz and the Hagiography of Exoticism," in John Carey, et al., eds, Irish Hagiography: Saints and Scholars (Dublin, 2001), pp. 172–6.
  22. ISBN 074860104X
    , p. 81.
  23. ^
    ISBN 0-7509-2977-4
    , pp. 109–117.
  24. ^
    ISBN 1843840960
    , pp. 26–9.
  25. ISBN 0-521-58602-X
    , pp. 244–5.
  26. ^
    ISBN 0-7486-0276-3
    , pp. 76–87.
  27. ISBN 074860104X
    , p. 64.
  28. ISBN 1446475638
    , p. 76.
  29. ISBN 0333567617
    , pp. 52–3.
  30. ISBN 0859917657
    , p. 137.
  31. ISBN 9004155805
    .
  32. ^
    ISBN 0748620222
    , p. 11.
  33. ISBN 0333567617
    , p. 55.
  34. ISBN 1843835622
    , pp. 178–94.
  35. ISBN 0-521-44461-6
    , pp. 349–50.
  36. ISBN 0-521-58602-X
    , p. 246.
  37. ISBN 0-521-58602-X
    , p. 254.
  38. ^
    ISBN 0-333-63358-X
    , p. 147.
  39. ISBN 0-521-58602-X
    , p. 257.
  40. ISBN 0748602763
    , pp. 102–4.
  41. ISBN 0415163579
    , p. 414.
  42. ISBN 0748602763
    , pp. 120–1.
  43. ^
    ISBN 0748602763
    , pp. 121–33.
  44. ^ Peter G. B. McNeill and Hector L. MacQueen, eds., Atlas of Scottish History to 1707 (Edinburgh, 1996), pp. 390–91.
  45. ISBN 0-333-61395-3
    , p. 11.
  46. ISBN 0-7011-6984-2
    , pp. 51–63.
  47. ISBN 0415278805
    , pp. 166–8.
  48. ISBN 0140136495
    , p. 201-2.
  49. ^ Mackie, A History of Scotland pp. 203–4.
  50. ^ Mackie, A History of Scotland pp. 205–6.
  51. ISBN 0140136495
    , pp. 209–10.
  52. ISBN 0140136495
    , pp. 211–2.
  53. ISBN 0140136495
    , pp. 213–4.
  54. ISBN 0415278805
    , pp. 225–6.
  55. ISBN 0140136495
    , pp. 221–6.
  56. ISBN 1446475638
    , pp. 279–81.
  57. ^
    ISBN 0140136495
    , pp. 227–8.
  58. ISBN 0140136495
    , p. 239.
  59. ISBN 0140136495
    , pp. 231–4.
  60. ISBN 0415278805
    , p. 253.
  61. ISBN 0140136495
    , p. 238.
  62. ^
    ISBN 0140136495
    , p. 241.
  63. ISBN 0140136495
    , pp. 252–3.
  64. ^
    ISBN 1-85109-440-7
    , pp. 416–7.
  65. ^ a b c G. M. Ditchfield, The Evangelical Revival (1998), p. 91.
  66. ^ a b G. Robb, "Popular Religion and the Christianisation of the Scottish Highlands in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries", Journal of Religious History, 1990, 16(1), pp. 18–34.
  67. ^ J. Brown Stewart, Thomas Chalmers and the godly Commonwealth in Scotland (1982)
  68. ^ S. Mechie, The Church and Scottish social development, 1780–1870 (1960).
  69. ^ "Analysis of Religion in the 2001 Census", The Scottish Government, 17 May 2006, archived from the original on 7 June 2011
  70. ^ "Religious Populations", Office for National Statistics, 11 October 2004, archived from the original on 4 June 2011
  71. ^ "Religion and belief: some surveys and statistics", British Humanist Association, 24 June 2004, archived from the original on 6 August 2011
  72. ^ "Queen and the Church". The British Monarchy (Official Website). Archived from the original on 5 June 2011.
  73. ^ "How we are organised". Church of Scotland. Archived from the original on 10 June 2011.
  74. ^ "Legacies – Immigration and Emigration – Scotland – Strathclyde – Lithuanians in Lanarkshire". BBC. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
  75. ^ A. Collier "Scotland's confident Catholics", Tablet 10 January 2009, p. 16.
  76. ^ Tad Turski (2011-02-01). "Statistics". Dioceseofaberdeen.org. Archived from the original on 2011-11-29. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
  77. ^ "How many Catholics are there in Britain?". BBC News Website. BBC. 15 September 2010. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  78. ISBN 0416369804
    , p. 243.

References

External links


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