Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour cleverly hidden at the intersection of religion, art, science, food, and politics. This is an open thread where we can share our thoughts and comments about the day. The era between 1680 and 1688 is known as the Killing Times, during which time Scotland was torn apart by the bloody conflicts between the Presbyterian Covenanter movement and the government forces of King Charles II and King James VII.
Understanding the events leading up to the Killing Times begins with the Reformation which began in 1517 when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the town church in Wittenburg. Following the Reformation, a number of different Protestant Christian churches were formed in Europe. In Britain, the two most important Protestant churches were Presbyterian and Anglican.
The Presbyterian churches take their name from their form of church government which is based on an interpretation of how the New Testament describes the structure of churches. The churches are governed by presbyters (ministers or elders who occupy a priestly role). In his book Religions, Philip Wilkinson reports:
“This form of governance particularly attracted religious leaders in Scotland, who were looking for a way to run their churches that involved the whole community and left the way open for subsequent reforms.”
In the 1530s, King Henry VIII of England broke with the Roman Catholic Church and made the English sovereign the head of the Church of England. The Church of England kept many of the features of the Roman Catholic Church, including priests and bishops, but rejected the authority of the Pope.
Following the Reformation Parliament of 1560, the Church of Scotland was Presbyterian, but under King James VI the Church had an Episcopalian church government with a Calvinistic theology. John Calvin (1509-1564) viewed humans as inherently sinful. He felt that the Bible was the true word of God and thus articulated the ultimate moral standard. In his book World History, Philip Parker writes:
“Calvin stressed predestination (God’s control over all human actions) and a direct relationship with God, devoid of priestly or papal interference.”
In 1625, King Charles I imposed High Church Anglicanism on the Church. In an effort to extend the Anglican traditional liturgy to Scotland, King Charles had a Book of Common Prayer for Scotland drawn up in 1637. It was denounced by the Scottish people and was not put into use.
By 1649, however, the Kirk Party—i.e. Presbyterian—was in control of the Scottish Parliament. According to Magnus Magnusson, in his book Scotland: The Story of a Nation:
“Church attendance was made compulsory. Every parish was to have a school, paid for by local landowners. Merchants were forbidden to trade with Catholic countries, lest they be subject to ‘religious contagion.”
Witch-hunting increased. Execution of opponents was common.
In 1649, the Scottish Parliament declared Charles II as King. Charles was living in exile in France at this time. A delegation of Scottish ministers met with him in The Hague. According to Magnus Magnusson:
“They told him bluntly that he would have to promise to establish Presbyterianism in all three of his kingdoms.”
In 1650, King Charles II accepted the protection of the Presbyterian polity and doctrine of the Church of Scotland. In 1660, the King renounced his Oath of Covenant and overthrew the Presbyterian form of organization. As a result, many ministers, particularly in the southwest of Scotland, abandoned their parishes and took to preaching in the open fields. Thousands of worshippers were attracted to the preaching of the Covenanters.
In order to stamp out the Covenanter movement, fines were levied for failing to attend parish churches and the death penalty was imposed for preaching at field conventicles. Torture, in the form of the boot and thumbscrews, became the tactic of first resort.
The Killing Times ended when William of Orange became King William II of Scotland in 1688 and the Act of Settlement of 1690 in which Scottish Presbyterianism was accepted.
Open Thread
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