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Preface
There is no doubt whatever that
the Protestant Reformation in Scotland received its principal direction from the
indomitable John Knox, a rigorous and courageous adherent to the Reformed
version of evangelical teaching as espoused in Geneva by John Calvin and his
disciples. The stature of Knox looms large over the Scottish church and rightly
so, for his contributions to its reformation were major and decisive. It is
highly unlikely that the movement to reform that church could have succeeded
without Knox, or at least without a leader of his conspicuous ability. Any
serious examination of the Reformation in Scotland must at least acknowledge his
monumental importance.
Although even those who have only a casual acquaintance with Scottish history
usually have some appreciation for the significance of Knox, few seem to realize
that he was not literally the father of the Reformation in his homeland. There
were several precursors of Knox who laid the foundations upon which he built,
and those forerunners were, for the most part, disciples of Martin Luther. It is
the purpose of this book to identify the most prominent Scottish Lutherans and
to relate the roles they played in the first phase of Scotland's Protestant
history.
The author makes no claim to originality. His objective is to bring together in
one place information that heretofore has appeared only in articles and as
relatively minor emphases in books narrating the Scottish Reformation. It has
been well over a hundred years since anyone has published a book dealing at
length and in a systematic manner with the Lutheran phase of the Reformation in
Scotland, and even then some of the figures who appear in the present volume
received only slight attention.
The present author has examined most of the primary sources employed by previous
writers on this subject and has found that his predecessors have, for the most
part, understood them well and used them appropriately. I am therefore indebted
to all of them, and I hope that I have done them justice in drawing upon their
learning. The decision about which early Protestants to include in this study
and the interpretations expressed and implied are, of course, my own. Although a
few other personalities from the first half of the sixteenth century might have
been included, those who do appear in this book were selected because, in my
judgment, they were all important links in the chain of Luther's Scottish
connection.
Download
Luther's Scottish Connection
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See also the article on
Mapping the Scottish Reformation (pdf) |
