93
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
New page: The '''Church of Scotland''' ("Kirk" in the demotic Scots) is the established church in Scotland. Reformed in terms of theology and presbyterian in term...
The '''Church of Scotland''' ("Kirk" in the demotic Scots) is the established church in Scotland. [[Reformation|Reformed]] in terms of theology and [[Presbyterianism|presbyterian]] in terms of organization, it has its origins in the [[16th century]] Scottish reformation.
==History==
The key figure in the Scottish reformation was [[John Knox]], an Edinburgh preacher and disciple of Swiss reformer [[John Calvin]]. The reformation in Scotland is usually dated to [[1560]],[http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/organisation/orghistory.htm#reformation] the year the [[Scottish Parliament]] formally rejected Papal jurisdiction. In the following turbulent 130 years, there was a great deal of conflict - at times armed - between various factions in the United Kingdom (formed from the union of Scotland and England in 1603), and religion was often a defining factor in the shifting alliances that shaped the dynastic, political and cultural landscape of the time. (See [[British Civil War]]). Specifically, prebyterianism, [[Episcopalianism]] and [[Catholicism]] were vying for supremecy in this period. With the ascendency of the House of Orange in the Glorious Revolution of 1690, the predominance of the presbyterianism Kirk was assured.[http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/organisation/orghistory.htm#national]
==Church organization==
Rejecting a distinction between bishops and the clergy, and, indeed, downplaying the distinction between clergy and laity, each Church of Scotland congregation is governed by a Kirk Session consisting of body of elected [[elder|elders]], the [[minister]] considered to be but a special case of elder. The church as a whole takes decisions at the annual General Assembly, at which both elders and ministers are represented.[http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/organisation/orgstructure.htm]
==Role in education==
As a result of the zeal of early reformers to spread the [[Word of God]], Scotland became the first country in the world to pass a law requiring a school to be established in every parish, in [[1616]]. By the end of the [[seventeenth century]], this goal was achieved, and Scotland is generally held to have been the first modern country to have instituted a system of universal [[public education]]., a source of great pride among Scots and their descendents to this day.
==Liberal position on women==
There has been full equality between men and women in the Church of Scotland since 1968.[http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/organisation/orgwomen.htm]
==History==
The key figure in the Scottish reformation was [[John Knox]], an Edinburgh preacher and disciple of Swiss reformer [[John Calvin]]. The reformation in Scotland is usually dated to [[1560]],[http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/organisation/orghistory.htm#reformation] the year the [[Scottish Parliament]] formally rejected Papal jurisdiction. In the following turbulent 130 years, there was a great deal of conflict - at times armed - between various factions in the United Kingdom (formed from the union of Scotland and England in 1603), and religion was often a defining factor in the shifting alliances that shaped the dynastic, political and cultural landscape of the time. (See [[British Civil War]]). Specifically, prebyterianism, [[Episcopalianism]] and [[Catholicism]] were vying for supremecy in this period. With the ascendency of the House of Orange in the Glorious Revolution of 1690, the predominance of the presbyterianism Kirk was assured.[http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/organisation/orghistory.htm#national]
==Church organization==
Rejecting a distinction between bishops and the clergy, and, indeed, downplaying the distinction between clergy and laity, each Church of Scotland congregation is governed by a Kirk Session consisting of body of elected [[elder|elders]], the [[minister]] considered to be but a special case of elder. The church as a whole takes decisions at the annual General Assembly, at which both elders and ministers are represented.[http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/organisation/orgstructure.htm]
==Role in education==
As a result of the zeal of early reformers to spread the [[Word of God]], Scotland became the first country in the world to pass a law requiring a school to be established in every parish, in [[1616]]. By the end of the [[seventeenth century]], this goal was achieved, and Scotland is generally held to have been the first modern country to have instituted a system of universal [[public education]]., a source of great pride among Scots and their descendents to this day.
==Liberal position on women==
There has been full equality between men and women in the Church of Scotland since 1968.[http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/organisation/orgwomen.htm]