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LUTHER'S SCOTTISH CONNECTION
James Edward McGoldrick
"Although even those who have only a casual acquaintance with Scottish history usually have some appreciation for the significance of John 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." - from the Author's Preface
"Understandably scholars have tended to view the Reformed theologians like Calvin as being the major influences on the development of the Scottish Church. But in the early days of the Reformation in Scotland, it was Luther and his message that was the prime influence. McGoldrick's fine study sets the record straight. And I am glad to see it back in print." - Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin
"I have read McGoldrick's work! I started to glance over it and found I couldn't put it down. It is Fantastic! He fills in a lot of background to the Scottish Reformation that most works leave out. Usually the Lollard connection is mildly hinted at and the story of Hamilton is told only in so far as to explain why he was burned. McGoldrick gives a tremendous amount of information that very few writers have dealt with and he does it in such a fresh way!" - Pastor Robert Elliott
"Professor McGoldrick offers an important corrective to students of the Reformation who casually link Knox, Calvin and the Scottish kirk. The causes of the Scottish Reformation include Lollardy, Erasmian humanism, and most notably, Lutheranism, decades before Calvin's ideas found a fertile reception. Patrick Hamilton's treatise titled Patrick's Places (included in the Appendix) affirmed a strong Pauline doctrine of Justification and provided the theological foundation for the Reformation in Scotland before his martyrdom in 1528. We are all indebted to Dr. McGoldrick for his important research on the origins of the Scottish Reformation and the clarity with which it is presented.." - Dr. Dale Walden Johnson
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Additional Information
• Author's Preface
| Author's Preface |
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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 therefore 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.
I have examined most of the primary sources employed by previous writers on this subject and have found that they 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.
Dr. James Edward McGoldrick
