Bridging the Divide: The Legacies of Mary Slessor, ‘Queen’ of Calabar, Nigeria

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elijah Obinna
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The State ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Free Church ◽  
Missionary Work

The missionary upsurge of the mid-nineteenth century resulted in the establishment of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria (PCN) in 1846. The mission was undertaken through the sponsorship of the United Secession Church and later the United Presbyterian Church (UPC), which subsequently became part of the United Free Church of Scotland. In 1876, the ‘white African mother’ and ‘Queen’ of Calabar, Mary Slessor, arrived in Calabar as a missionary of the UPC. She served for thirty-nine years, died and was buried in Calabar. This paper presents a contextual background for understanding the missionary work of Miss Slessor. It critically surveys some of her legacies within Nigeria, and demonstrates how contemporary PCN and Nigerians are appropriating them. The paper further analyses the state of contemporary Nigerian-Scottish partnership and argues for new patterns of relationship between Nigeria and Scotland which draw on the model of Miss Slessor.

Scottish Presbyterianism and the National Education Debates, 1850–62

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 363-380
Author(s):  
Ryan Mallon
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
National Education ◽  
Free Church ◽  
Parish Schools ◽  
Religious Establishment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church

This article examines the mid-nineteenth-century Scottish education debates in the context of intra-Presbyterian relations in the aftermath of the 1843 ‘Disruption’ of the Church of Scotland. The debates of this period have been characterized as an attempt to wrest control of Scottish education from the Church of Scotland, with most opponents of the existing scheme critical of the established kirk's monopoly over the supervision of parish schools. However, the debate was not simply between those within and outside the religious establishment. Those advocating change, particularly within non-established Presbyterian denominations, were not unified in their proposals for a solution to Scotland's education problem. Disputes between Scotland's largest non-established churches, the Free Church and the United Presbyterian Church, and within the Free Church itself over the type of national education scheme that should replace the parish schools severely hampered their ability to express common opposition to the existing system. These divisions also placed increasing strain on the developing cooperation in Scottish Dissent on ecclesiastical, political and social matters after the Disruption. This article places the issue of education in this period within this distinctly Dissenting context of cooperation, and examines the extent of the impact these debates had on Dissenting Presbyterian relations.

Christian Doctrine and Judicial Review: The Free Church Case Revisited

2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (31) ◽  
pp. 318-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Cranmer
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Free Church ◽  
The Church

In the latter part of the nineteenth century there were attempts to unite the various bodies which had split off from the Church of Scotland in the previous hundred years. In particular, there were great hopes for a union between the United Presbyterian Church [UPC] and the Free Church of Scotland [FC].

Liberal, Broad Church, and Reforming Influences in the Late Nineteenth Century

2019 ◽  
pp. 419-432
Author(s):  
Finlay A. J. Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Scientific Discovery ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Free Church ◽  
The Public ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
The Church

The second half of the nineteenth century saw something of a watershed as the post-Disruption Presbyterian Churches moved beyond the theology of the Westminster Confession. At the same time the Church of Scotland was forced to defend its role as an ‘established Church’, finding a ready champion in John Tulloch of St Andrews who stressed the role of religion in the public as well as the private sphere. Through the liberal and reforming influences of men such as Tulloch, John Caird, Norman Macleod, Robert Flint, and Archibald Charteris in the Church of Scotland, John Cairns in the United Presbyterian Church, and Robert Rainy in the Free Church the late century years witnessed a new theological engagement with the challenges of scientific discovery and social need. By such means Christianity was commended to mind as well as spirit, to reason as well as faith.

Scottish Missionaries, ‘Protestant Hinduism’ and the Scottish Sense of Empire in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-century India

2007 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Constable
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Western India ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Free Church ◽  
Intellectual Engagement ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
The Church

This article examines the Scottish missionary contribution to a Scottish sense of empire in India in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Initially, the article reviews general historiographical interpretations which have in recent years been developed to explain the Scottish relationship with British imperial development in India. Subsequently the article analyses in detail the religious contributions of Scottish Presbyterian missionaries of the Church of Scotland and the Free Church Missions to a Scottish sense of empire with a focus on their interaction with Hindu socioreligious thought in nineteenth-century western India. Previous missionary historiography has tended to focus substantially on the emergence of Scottish evangelical missionary activity in India in the early nineteenth century and most notably on Alexander Duff (1806–78). Relatively little has been written on Scottish Presbyterian missions in India in the later nineteenth century, and even less on the significance of their missionary thought to a Scottish sense of Indian empire. Through an analysis of Scottish Presbyterian missionary critiques in both vernacular Marathi and English, this article outlines the orientalist engagement of Scottish Presbyterian missionary thought with late nineteenth-century popular Hinduism. In conclusion this article demonstrates how this intellectual engagement contributed to and helped define a Scottish missionary sense of empire in India.

scholarly journals The Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa and Ecumenism: 1923–1939

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Duncan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
South African ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The South ◽  
Main Thrust ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Free Church ◽  
Presbyterian Churches

The Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa (BPCSA) was birthed out of a quest for union amongst Presbyterians, which began in the 1890s more than 30 years before it was actually established as the fruit of the mission of the United Free Church of Scotland in 1923. From that date onwards church union hardly ever disappeared from the agenda of the highest court of the denomination, the General Assembly. During the twentieth century such discussions involved two of the three other Presbyterian churches and the Congregational Union of South Africa. In addition, the BPCSA has maintained a high ecumenical profile in both the South African and global contexts. The main thrust of this article describes and analyses the vicissitudes of Presbyterian conversations during the period 1923–39

Redaction Criticism on Trial: The Cases of A. B. Bruce and Robert Gundry

2014 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-209
Author(s):  
Michael Strickland
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Redaction Criticism ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Free Church ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Late Nineteenth

This article deals with the trials of two evangelical scholars, one from the late nineteenth century, Alexander B. Bruce, and the other from the late twentieth, Robert Gundry. Both faced accusation and judgment from their peers because of their redaction-critical remarks about the synoptic gospels. Bruce was tried by the Free Church of Scotland, while Gundry’s membership in the Evangelical Theological Society was challenged. After considering the cases of both, consideration is given to potential lessons that evangelical scholars who use redactioncritical methods may learn from the experiences of both men.

Antislavery Orthodoxy: Isaac Nelson and the Free Church of Scotland, c. 1843–65

2015 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Irish Nationalism ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Free Church ◽  
Chattel Slavery ◽  
Christian Fellowship ◽  
High Esteem

The ‘Send back the money’ controversy between the Free Church of Scotland and zealous abolitionists was one of the most important events in nineteenth century Scottish religious history. The Revd Isaac Nelson of Belfast is best remembered for his anti-revivalism and his advocacy of Irish nationalism. What has often been forgotten is the centrality of antislavery to the making of Nelson's controversial reputation, even though he was held in high esteem by abolitionists on both sides of the Atlantic. Accordingly, this article examines his opposition to the Free Church's receipt of monies from and extension of christian fellowship to the slaveholding churches in the United States. It highlights his critique of leading ecclesiastical statesmen, including Thomas Chalmers, William Cunningham and Robert S. Candlish. The essay also considers the sophisticated intellectual critique of chattel slavery that under-girded Nelson's opposition to the policy of the Free Kirk, as well as his evaluation of the nature of proslavery religion in America. By means of a biographical case study of an interesting outsider, this article seeks to provide a lens through which one of the most tragic incidents in Scotland's ecclesiastical past can be freshly examined.

Free Church Theology 1843–1900

2019 ◽  
pp. 242-264
Author(s):  
Michael Bräutigam
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Historical Criticism ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Free Church ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
William Robertson ◽  
The Church

This chapter explores the theology of key scholars of the Free Church of Scotland from 1843 until 1900, when only a small remnant continued as the Free Church after its union with the United Presbyterian Church. Divided into two parts, the first section looks at the theology of the Disruption fathers, Thomas Chalmers, Robert S. Candlish, William Cunningham, and George Smeaton. The second part deals with the subsequent generation of Free Church theologians, in particular with a group known as the ‘believing critics’. Influenced by new developments on the continent, scholars, such as William Robertson Smith and Marcus Dods, challenged the church with their focus on historical criticism in biblical studies. Delineating the distinctive features of individual theologians as well as taking into account the broader landscape of nineteenth-century Scotland, the chapter attempts a fresh perspective on theological debates within the Victorian Free Church.

The International Religious Network of Yun Chi-ho (1865–1965: Mission or Dialogue?

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 228-235
Author(s):  
Shin Ahn
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The State ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Missionary Work ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
Medical Missionary ◽  
Christian Message

For five hundred years (1392–1910, Neo-Confucianism had been the state religion in Korea before Christianity was transmitted by Western missionaries. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, French Catholic missionaries taught the Christian message without permission, resulting in severe persecution by the Korean rulers. But during the late nineteenth century American Protestant missionaries secured permission from the Korean king and started educational and medical missionary work, rather than engaging in direct evangelical activity.

The Church of Scotland and the ‘increase of popery’, c.1690–1714

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-190
Author(s):  
Clare Loughlin
Keyword(s):  
Central Government ◽  
The State ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Church Courts ◽  
Political Disaffection ◽  
The Church

This article explores representations of ‘popery’ compiled by the Presbyterian Church of Scotland between 1690 and 1714. The ‘increase of popery’ was a ubiquitous phrase in this period. Synods and presbyteries regularly complained of Catholic encroachments in their parishes, and sent extensive reports of the activities of ‘papists’ to the general assembly and its commission. In turn, these national church courts collated these local petitions into longer representations of the ‘state of popery’ in Scotland. Representations have not been examined systematically by scholars. Indeed, representations have often been dismissed as cynical ploys rather than sincere expressions of anxiety at Catholic survival. Yet the very significance of these documents lies in their polemical nature. This article argues that the emphasis on political disaffection in national representations was informed by the Church's fraught relationship with central government, and with rival Protestant groups. Desperate efforts to showcase the necessity of Presbyterian government underpinned national representations of ‘popery’; as such, anti-Catholic sentiments were informed increasingly by the weaknesses of Scottish Presbyterianism as much as by actual Catholic activity. By contextualising representations of ‘popery’ and approaching them as part of a genre, the clerical petition, this article provides new perspectives on the nature of Scottish anti-Catholic polemic.

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