The field of Scottish religious history has long been dominated by studies of church polity, discipline, and worship. This edited collection valuably shifts the focus toward liturgy, a customary ritual performance including both verbal and physical signs of public worship (p. 19). It includes thirteen chapters (arranged chronologically) that examine how Scots drew upon their own liturgical inheritances to respond to political and ecclesiastical change between the Reformation and the Enlightenment. The first six chapters concentrate on liturgical developments prior to the Revolution of 1688–90, while the latter seven analyse how Scots used liturgy to inform their support of the Jacobite movement. Together, these chapters offer a convincing reassessment of the relationship between faith and political allegiance, one which also accounts for the key role that liturgy played in Scottish religious culture.
The first half of the collection—spanning from the Reformation to the Revolution of 1688–90—is highly diverse in its subject matter. Stephen Mark Holmes shows how liturgical developments in the British Isles and continental Europe informed those in Scotland prior to the Protestant Reformation of 1559–60. In the next two chapters, Patricia Barton and Thomas McInally discuss the Catholic mission in Scotland. By examining the religious (rather than political) elements of the Jesuit mission, Barton argues that Scottish women took up key roles as ‘repositories of the faith’, such as advancing Catholicism through their children’s education (p. 41). McInally explores tensions between missionaries and the Propaganda Fide regarding the institution of liturgical practices, many of which were impossible to implement in Scotland. The next three chapters discuss the movement away from strict Calvinism during the latter half of the seventeenth century. John Hintermaier explains how Episcopalians made significant efforts to undo the ‘damage done by the Covenanting period’, or those years between the signing of the National Covenant in 1638 and the Restoration in 1660. During this period, a group of Scottish Presbyterians (known as the Covenanters) removed bishops from the Kirk and rejected all Episcopalian ceremonies that they considered idolatrous (such as kneeling at communion). Hintermaier demonstrates how Episcopalians later responded to this period of Presbyterian dominance by settling a liturgy in the Church during the 1660s and 1670s (p. 83). Isaac Poobalan examines how Henry Scougal (1650–1678), a minister and Professor of Divinity at King’s College Aberdeen, advocated for justice and charity in a manner that placed him in a ‘transcendent space from the Calvinists’ and contributed to the spread of practical mysticism in the North-East. Alasdair Raffe then analyses how ‘multiconfessional competition’ from 1686 to 1689 stimulated devotion and caused churchmen to defend their liturgical differences (p. 96).
The second half addresses the relationship between faith and political allegiance for Episcopalians, non-jurors, and Catholics after 1690. Multiple chapters demonstrate that confessional boundaries were fluid and frequently overlapped while religious affiliation was not synonymous with political allegiance. Kieran German illustrates how, in Aberdeenshire, jurors and non-jurors alike overlooked the legislative requirement to pray for the royal family, meaning that Episcopalianism was not always synonymous with Jacobitism. Tristram Clarke similarly shows that divisions between jurors and non-jurors, especially regarding the Anglican liturgy, were not strict. Instead, set forms of liturgy allowed them to overcome political differences. Marie-Luise Ehrenschwendtner further argues that non-jurors were motivated predominantly by spiritual (rather than political) interests, such as their commitment to piety. Richard Sharp then examines how English non-jurors were distinctive in their attempt to raise awareness of the faith and the practice of the primitive Church, while A. Emsley Nimmo focuses on the belief of Archibald Campbell, bishop of Aberdeen, that Episcopalians should pray for the dead. Darren Layne examines the clergy associated with Jacobitism during the Forty-Five, arguing that they were a moderate group who conveyed the ideology of pro-Stuart schemes and supported logistical aims locally. Finally, W. Douglas Kornahrens concludes the volume by tracing the Eucharistic perspective taken in the Scottish Communion Office of 1764 (or the order for the administration of the Communion) to that of the ‘Aberdeen Doctors’ in the 1630s and to pre-Tridentine Roman Catholic traditions. By highlighting these connections, Kornahrens demonstrates that Scottish Episcopalians consistently viewed the Eucharist as intrinsically intercessory, evidence of a Eucharistic theology native to Scotland rather than one derived from England. Together, these seven chapters demonstrate how Scots who had been marginalized by the Presbyterian order drew upon and adapted different elements of their liturgical inheritances to inform their support for the Jacobite movement.
There are multiple strengths to this collection. First, the volume’s cross-confessional perspective is enlightening. While most studies on Scottish religious history focus on intra-confessional developments, these chapters reflect critically on how Episcopalians, non-jurors, and Catholics responded to their shared experience of marginalisation. Second, the emphasis on liturgy demonstrates how religious developments occurred on a broad social basis, not just on an institutional level in the churches. Barton argues that the Jesuits gave women crucial roles in the mission while Raffe shows how the Catholic printing press in Holyroodhouse won over converts by focusing on piety and devotionals to reach the illiterate. These chapters shift the focus to religious culture, demonstrating the crucial role that liturgy played in sustaining the faith amongst disenfranchised groups. Lastly, the volume demonstrates the importance of Scottish liturgical traditions in a global—not just national—context. Multiple chapters highlight the significance of liturgical developments in Scotland for the British Isles, continental Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas. Sharp explores cross-border collaboration between Scottish Episcopalians and English non-jurors, while Clarke analyses the effects of the Episcopalian diaspora into England and the Caribbean. These thirteen chapters therefore usefully highlight the implications of Scottish liturgical developments for multiple religious traditions abroad.
Although the collection covers an ambitious chronological scope, it is surprising that religious developments prior to the Restoration are not considered more extensively. Valuable assessments of the earlier conflicts (especially the period between the signing of the National Covenant in 1638 and the Restoration in 1660) are occasionally included. For example, Hintermaier and Kornahrens both discuss the significance of the Covenanting movement and the theology of John Forbes of Corse (1593–1648) for later liturgy. Yet the volume might have benefitted from more analysis of the conflicts between Episcopalians and Presbyterians in the first half of the seventeenth century. A treatment of the changes that the Presbyterian Covenanters made to the Kirk throughout the 1640s (and their overt hostility to Episcopalianism) would have provided useful context for the number of chapters that analyse Episcopalian liturgical developments after 1660. Admittedly, a great deal of scholarship already exists on the 1640s and this volume aims to show how liturgy informed support for the Jacobite movement. However, some attention to religious change in the early seventeenth century might have added continuity to the chronological approach of the volume and set the stage for the liturgical developments after 1660 that the rest of the volume considers. Nevertheless, this edited collection is a remarkable and noteworthy contribution to how we think about political and religious allegiance, including the significant role that liturgy played in Scottish political life.
