Browsing by Subject "Reformation--Scotland."

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Open Access
Enlightenment and reformation in the historical writings of Thomas M'Crie
(2007) Durgun, Fatih
There are a limited number of studies of post-Enlightenment Scottish historiography and these are mainly concerned with the imaginative literature products of the period. However, there were many reflections of the conflicts and discussions about religious, political and social matters in the historiography of period from the Enlightenment to the separation of the Evangelicals from the Established Church of Scotland in the Disruption of 1843. My research aims at investigating the outstanding themes in the works of a post-Enlightenment Scottish history-writer, Thomas M’Crie. The reception of the Enlightenment ideas—as we perceived it in the texts—by an early nineteenth century Scottish historian and divine will not only show the perception of these ideas by an individual but also will bring forward to the much neglected issue of the relationship between the Enlightenment and the Evangelical movement within and outside the Church of Scotland. M’Crie’s historical works are very important for their depiction of a particular contribution, made most firmly by the Seceders to the intellectual environment and religio-political discussions of the time. His works were an attempt to restore the estimation of the Scottish Reformation past in reaction to an Enlightenment historiography, which attacked this heritage as a hindrance to progressive ideas and fuller integration into the British state. His restorationist and Counter-Enlightenment view was a Scottish manifestation of a movement in Europe at large responding to the dangerous ideas disseminated by Enlightenment thinkers and actions of the French Revolutionaries.
Open Access
History, presbyterianism and the confessional state : David Calderwood and his writings in the post-reformation Scotland
(2007) Özdemir, Muhammed Burak
Thanks to recently developed methodologies in history writing, the analysis of relatively lesser known figures in the area of intellectual history, placing them in their historical context has become important in historical studies. The investigation pursued in this thesis explains a seventeenth-century politico-religious context of Scotland, through the writings of a leading Presbyterian minister of the period, David Calderwood. Here Calderwood emerges as an important representative of the expression of a confessional identity. His ideas are interesting enough to refute the claims of some historians that religion began to be excluded from all intellectual debates of this period. His works mainly reflect a radical Presbyterian stance, opposing that of the Episcopalians. The elucidation of the aspects of this radical Presbyterianism illustrates how the early modern Scottish discussion between Presbyterians and Episcopalians had a constitutive role in establishing an identity. History was a useful intellectual tool for Calderwood to offer a solution to this debate. But, historical precedents could provide guidance only in so far as God’s providential plan was perceived in them, as directing the course of all events, and justifying religious and moral commands—in fact, Presbyterianism—now identifiable with the nation’s historical path.