Scottish Literature in a Time of Change

2019 ◽  
pp. 199-212
Author(s):  
Ian Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Scottish Literature ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Church ◽  
Century Literature ◽  
Public Worship

This essay attempts, by selective reference to a range of works in several genres, to identify and comment on some of the ways in which Scottish writers have responded to centuries of development and change in public worship and the exercise of personal Christian faith since the middle of the eighteenth century. As the Church of Scotland and the public perception of worship have changed, notably so in the last century, literature has tried to find a way which accurately reflects that change, while highlighting some of the legacy of Scotland’s religious practice.

Between Nationhood and Nonconformity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Wallace ◽  
Colin Kidd
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Periodical Press ◽  
Scottish Literature ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Free Church ◽  
Dominant Feature ◽  
Small Measure ◽  
The Church

It tends to be assumed that the Anglo-Scottish relationship has defined modern Scottish literature. This chapter contends that religion rather than nationhood has been the dominant feature of Scottish literature within the Union, and that for most Scots, certainly from the mid-eighteenth-century Secessions, by way of the Disruption (1843), to the reunion of the Church of Scotland with the United Free Church in 1929, denominational allegiances within Scottish Protestantism, often within Presbyterianism itself, were the principal vehicles of identity. Scotland had a rich periodical press during the nineteenth century, but one splintered along denominational lines. Every denomination had its magazine, and Scottish reviewing, and literature more generally, bore marked denominational inflections. Moreover, the vivid characterization, claustrophobic Calvinism, and ingenious plotting of the Whig-Presbyterian novel have continued in no small measure—in works by Robin Jenkins and, more recently, James Robertson—to provide a narrative template for secularized, postmodern Scottish literature.

All His Father’s Sins

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Christian Faith ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Jeremy Bentham ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Parting Ways ◽  
The Church ◽  
Critique Of Religion

This chapter explores the life and thought of John Stuart Mill’s father, James Mill. It seeks to unravel his journey from pursuing the calling of an ordained Christian minister in the Church of Scotland to parting ways with the Christian faith altogether. It will also seek to understand James Mill’s mature critique of religion, as well as that of his friend the Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, the author of several works critical of traditional Christianity. The unhappy marriage of John Stuart Mill’s parents is presented as a vital background for understanding his future choices and convictions. The Christian identity of his mother and siblings are also presented.

Anti-Reredos Cases and the Fight against Idolatry in the Late Victorian Church, c. 1860–c. 1900

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Hugh Pattenden
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
Church Architecture ◽  
The Public ◽  
Local Newspapers ◽  
The Church ◽  
Public Worship

Abstract This article considers attacks on reredoses in the late Victorian Church of England with the objective of placing such controversies within the context of anti-idolatry and anti-ritualism campaigns of the period. By doing so it seeks to rectify the lack of focus in the historiography on how the ritualist controversy affected discussion of changes to church architecture. In particular, by using local newspapers, it extends consideration of the reredos issue beyond the two main cases, namely those of Exeter and St Paul’s cathedrals. It argues that the reredos cases provide a powerful tool for considering how the Church of England moved towards a more ‘catholic’ position on ornamentation during this period, showing how it became impossible for the more Protestant members of the Church to prevent what they saw as the ‘Romanization’ of ecclesiastical spaces. This was part of a broader process by which ornamentation was coming to be accepted on purely aesthetic terms, and not as a challenge to the theology of the Church of England. It further assesses the significance of the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 in relation to cases involving church fabric, arguing that the introduction of the bishops’ veto had only limited practical effects on such disputes.

Between Orthodoxy and Enlightenment

2019 ◽  
pp. 14-26
Author(s):  
Paul Helm
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Representative Selection ◽  
Adult Lives ◽  
The Church ◽  
Selection Of

This chapter is an attempt to gauge the theology of the Church of Scotland in the first half of the eighteenth century by considering a representative selection of theological writers of that period. Each of those considered—Thomas Blackwell, Robert Riccaltoun, and Thomas Halyburton—held parish ministries, two them for most of their adult lives, and two of them held chairs of theology. Distinct personalities, each upheld the position of the Westminster Standards con animo. Yet each reveal in their different ways an awareness of changes that the Enlightenment was bringing, calling for adaptation to the literary form of theology, or in its apologetic direction.

scholarly journals An enquiry on poverty discourses in public theology for the calling of the church to respond to poverty: A case for the Africa Inland Church in Kenya

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah K. Tenai
Keyword(s):  
Christian Faith ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Ordinary Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Square ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
Africa Inland Church ◽  
Poverty Levels ◽  
The Church

As an emergent and rapidly growing international field of study, public theology has its focus on how Christian faith and practice impact on ordinary life. Its principle concern is thewell-being of society. In Africa, and in Kenya in particular, where poverty levels are still high, there is a need to enquire into the value and efficacy of the poverty discourses in publictheology, for the calling of the church to respond to poverty. One of the main and fast growingchurches in Kenya, the Africa Inland Church (AIC), has vast resources used for, amongst otherthings, various on-going work amidst the poor and the vulnerable in remote and poor areas. Due to the unrelenting nature of poverty in Kenya, the AIC needs a theological perspective, which is sufficiently sensitive to poverty and can enable it to respond to poverty moreeffectively. Public theology’s emphasis on gaining an entrée into the public square andadopting the agenda of communities, including public theology’s calling on churches toactively participate in rational and plausible public discourses, can assist the AIC to respondeffectively to the challenge of poverty in Kenya.

scholarly journals Die aktualisering van die gemeenskap van die gelowiges binne die erediens

1991 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Van der Merwe ◽  
M. J. Du P Beukes
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Youth Experiences ◽  
Articles Of Faith ◽  
The Church ◽  
Public Worship

The actualising of the commimity of believers within public worship The youth experiences the public service in the Nederduitsch Hervormde Church of Africa as cold and dead. According to investigations it feels that the public service lacks warmth and intimate atmosphere. Therefore this article wants to investigate the community of believers in the church. The question of how the church can realise the community of believers is raised. To reach this point, firstly the Bible and the articles of faith is investigated, and after that a look is taken at the nature of the public service, and the actualising of the believers.

scholarly journals John Glas and the Development of Religious Pluralism in Eighteenth-Century Scotland

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 527-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALASDAIR RAFFE
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Scottish Enlightenment ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Church Courts ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Government

This article discusses John Glas, a minister deposed by the Church of Scotland in 1728, in order to examine the growth of religious pluralism in Scotland. The article begins by considering why Glas abandoned Presbyterian principles of Church government, adopting Congregationalist views instead. Glas's case helped to change the Scottish church courts’ conception of deposed ministers, reflecting a reappraisal of Nonconformity. Moreover, Glas's experiences allow us to distinguish between church parties formed to conduct business, and those representing theological attitudes. Finally, Glas's case calls into question the broadest definitions of the ‘Scottish Enlightenment’, drawing attention to the emergence of pluralism.

Georgian Churchmanship Reconsidered: Some Variations in Anglican Public Worship 1714–1830

1985 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. C. Mather
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Good Works ◽  
High Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Public Worship

Current evaluation of the Church of England under the first four Georges follows in the main the assessment made by Norman Sykes in his monumental Church and State in England in the Eighteenth Century, published in 1934. According to that view the Church, which was lastingly cleared of the universal slackness previously imputed to it, exhibited a pervasive Latitudinarianism sympathetically portrayed by Sykes as ‘practical Christianity’, an emphasis on cdnduct and good works to the neglect of ‘organised churchmanship’ and the ‘mystical element’ in religion. R. W. Greaves detected similar features in the concept of ‘moderation’: suspicion of popery and friendship towards dissenters, a cult of plainness in theological explanation and a very general contempt of whatever was medieval. Historians have been willing to acknowledge as exceptions to this ‘mild’ quality of Anglican churchmanship the early Methodists and ‘small Evangelical and High Church minorities’, but only the two former have been taken seriously. Piety of a more traditional kind - rubrical, sacramental, Catholic - has been identified, only to be discounted. The Establishment has been seen in the light of the judgement recently summarised by Dr Anthony Russell: ‘Certainly the temper of the eighteenth century which favoured reason above all else, and was deeply suspicious of mysticism and the emotions, was against any form of sacramentalism.’

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document