Scottish Episcopal Church

Scottish Episcopal Church

Logo of the Scottish Episcopal Church
Founder Anne, Queen of Great Britain
Primate David Chillingworth,
Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane,
as the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church
Polity Episcopal
Headquarters General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church,
21 Grosvenor Crescent,
Edinburgh (Scotland)
EH12 5EE
Territory Scotland
Members 54,000 registered,[1]
Website scotland.anglican.org
St Ninian's Cathedral, Perth

The Scottish Episcopal Church (Scottish Gaelic: Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba) is a Christian church in Scotland, consisting of seven dioceses. Since the 18th century, it has held an identity distinct from the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland.

A continuation of the Church of Scotland as it was intended by James VI of Scotland and as it was for the approximately 30-year-period from the the Restoration of Charles II to the re-establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland following the Glorious Revolution, the Episcopal Church of Scotland is now a member of the Anglican Communion[2] and recognises the position of the Archbishop of Canterbury as president of the Anglican Instruments of Communion but without jurisdiction in Scotland. This close but ambivalent relationship consisting of a partial recognition of the authority of the Church of England but a concurrent claim of independence results from the unique history of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

The current Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church is the Most Reverend David Chillingworth. According to the Mission Atlas Project, 85,000 affiliates identify with the Scottish Episcopal Church.[3] The Scottish Episcopal Church is the denomination for 350 congregations.[4]

Official name

The Scottish Episcopal Church was previously called the Episcopal Church in Scotland, reflecting its role as the Scottish province of the Anglican Communion. Although not incorporated until 1712, the Scottish Episcopal Church traces its origins including but extending beyond the Reformation and sees itself in continuity with the church established by St. Ninian, St. Columba, St. Kentigern and other Celtic saints. The Church of Scotland claims the same continuity. The church is sometimes pejoratively referred to in Scotland as the "English Kirk", but this is only partly true and can cause offence.[5][6] This is probably in part due to the fact that it is, nonetheless, a union of the non-juring Episcopalians with the "qualified congregations" who worshipped according to the liturgy of the Church of England.

History

Origins of Christianity in Scotland

Saint Ninian conducted the first Christian mission to what is now southern Scotland.

In 563, St Columba travelled to Scotland with twelve companions, where according to legend he first landed at the southern tip of the Kintyre peninsula, near Southend. However, being still in sight of his native land he moved further north along the west coast of Scotland. He was granted land on the island of Iona off the Isle of Mull which became the centre of his evangelising mission to the Picts. However, there is a sense in which he did not leave his native people, as the Irish Gaels had been colonising the west coast of Scotland for some time.[7] Aside from the services he provided guiding the only centre of literacy in the region, his reputation as a holy man led to his role as a diplomat among the tribes; there are also many stories of miracles which he performed during his work to convert the Picts. He visited the pagan king Bridei, king of Fortriu, at his base in Inverness, winning the king's respect and Columba subsequently played a major role in the politics of that country. He was also very energetic in his evangelical work; in addition to founding several churches in the Hebrides, he worked to turn his monastery at Iona into a school for missionaries. He was a renowned man of letters, having written several hymns and being credited with having transcribed 300 books personally. He died on Iona and was buried in the abbey he established.

The Scottish church would continue to grow in the centuries that followed, and in the 11th century, Saint Margaret of Scotland (Queen Consort of Malcolm III of Scotland) strengthened the church's ties with the Holy See as did successive monarchs such as Margaret's son, David, who invited several religious orders to establish monasteries.

Reformation

The Scottish Reformation was formalised in 1560, when the Church of Scotland broke with the Church of Rome during a process of Protestant reform led, among others, by John Knox. It reformed its doctrines and government, drawing on the principles of John Calvin which Knox had been exposed to while living in Switzerland. In 1560, the Scottish Parliament abolished papal jurisdiction[8] and approved Calvin's Confession of Faith, but did not accept many of the principles laid out in Knox's First Book of Discipline, which argued, amongst other things, that all of the assets of the old church should pass to the new. The 1560 Reformation Settlement was not ratified by the crown for some years, and the question of church government also remained largely unresolved. In 1572 the acts of 1560 were finally approved by the young James VI, but under pressure from many of the nobles the Concordat of Leith also allowed the crown to appoint bishops with the church's approval.[9] John Knox himself had no clear views on the office of bishop, preferring to see them renamed as 'superintendents'; but in response to the new Concordat a Presbyterian party emerged headed by Andrew Melville, the author of the Second Book of Discipline.

The Scottish Episcopal Church began as a distinct church in 1582, when the Church of Scotland rejected episcopal government (by bishops) and adopted a presbyterian government by elders as well as reformed theology. Scottish monarchs made repeated efforts to introduce bishops and two ecclesiastical traditions competed.

Episcopal government imposed by the Stuarts

Timeline of the evolution of Scottish churches since 1560
Portrait of James VI by John de Critz, circa 1606

In 1584 James VI of Scotland had the Parliament of Scotland pass the Black Acts, appointing two bishops and bringing the Church of Scotland under royal control. This met vigorous opposition and he was forced to concede that the General Assembly should continue to run the church. Calvinists who disliked the more ceremonious style of liturgy were opposed by an Episcopalian faction. After ascending to the English throne in 1603 James stopped the General Assembly from meeting, increased the number of Scottish bishops and in 1618 held a General Assembly in Perth; this gathering adopted Five Articles of Episcopalian practices. Many Scottish church leaders, and their congregations, responded to the Five Articles with boycotts and disdain.

James' son Charles I was crowned in Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, in 1633 with full Anglican rites. Subsequently, in 1637, Charles attempted to introduce a version of the Book of Common Prayer, written by a group of Scottish prelates, most notably the Archbishop of St Andrews, John Spottiswoode, and the Bishop of Ross, John Maxwell, and edited for printing by the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud; it was a combination of Knox's Book of Common Order, which was in use before 1637, and English liturgy in hopes of further unifying the (Anglican) Church of England and the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland. When the revised Book of Common Prayer was used for the first time during worship on 23 July 1637 in St Giles' Edinburgh, it sparked a riot which was so representative of the strength of popular feeling in Scotland that it indirectly precipitated the Bishops' Wars and this successful challenge of royal authority helped encourage many unhappy Irish Catholics into partaking in the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the already increasingly uncooperative English Parliament into likewise declaring war on the king in the English Civil War. As a result of the weakness of the king, Presbyterian Covenanters were able to become the de facto government in Scotland until disagreement between the Scottish and English Parliaments over how to run Britain in terms of both civil and religious governance after the king was defeated led to another war and Scotland's conquest by the Covenanters' erstwhile allies the English Parliament's New Model Army.

Following the Restoration of the monarch in 1660, the government of Charles II reimposed episcopacy, and required all clergymen to swear allegiance to the king and bishops and renounce the Covenants, or be prevented from preaching in church. Up to a third, at least 270, of the ministry refused, mostly in the south-west of Scotland, and numerous ministers also took to preaching in the open fields in conventicles across the south of Scotland, often attracting thousands of worshippers. This was forcibly repressed by the government, in actions later dubbed The Killing Time. The conflict continued under King James VII of Scotland (also James II of England) until the Glorious Revolution led to his removal from power.

With the 1689 refusal of the Scottish bishops to swear allegiance to William of Orange while James VII lived and had not abdicated, the Presbyterian polity was finally re-established in the Church of Scotland. However, the Comprehension Act of 1690 allowed Episcopalian incumbents, on taking the Oath of Allegiance, to retain their benefices, though excluding them from any share in the government of the Church of Scotland without a further declaration of Presbyterian principles. Many 'non-jurors' also succeeded for a time in retaining the use of the parish churches.

The excluded Scottish bishops were slow to organise the Episcopalian remnant under a jurisdiction independent of the state, regarding the then arrangements as provisional, and looking forward to a reconstituted national Episcopal Church under a sovereign they regarded as legitimate (see Jacobitism). A few prelates, known as college bishops, were consecrated without sees, to preserve the succession rather than to exercise a defined authority. At length the hopelessness of the Stuart cause and the growth of congregations outside the establishment forced the bishops to dissociate canonical jurisdiction from royal prerogative and to reconstitute for themselves a territorial episcopate.

The Scottish Book of Common Prayer came into general use at start of the reign of William and Mary. The Scottish Communion Office, compiled by the non-jurors in accordance with primitive models, has had a varying co-ordinate authority, and the modifications of the English liturgy that would be adopted by the American Church were mainly determined by its influence.

Among the clergy of post-Revolution days the most eminent are Bishop John Sage, a well-known patristic scholar; Bishop Rattray, liturgiologist; John Skinner, of Longside, author of Tullochgorum; Bishop Gleig, editor of the 3rd edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica; Dean Ramsay, author of Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character; Bishop AP Forbes; GH Forbes, liturgiologist; and Bishop Charles Wordsworth. Bishop James Sharp, a former moderate Covenanter and Resolutioner, was appointed Archbishop of St Andrews and primate of Scotland in 1661. He was reviled by Covenanters, and his murder in 1679 led to an escalation of hostilities.

From the Union of England and Scotland in 1707

The death of Charles Stuart led to better conditions for church growth

In 1707 Scotland and England were merged into a single Kingdom of Great Britain. The Scottish Episcopalians Act of 1711 protected the Episcopal Church, which marked its virtual incorporation as a distinct society. However, matters were still complicated by a considerable, though declining, number of Episcopalian incumbents holding parish churches. Moreover, the Jacobitism of the non-jurors provoked a state policy of repression in 1715 and 1745, and fostered the growth of new Hanoverian congregations, using the English Prayer Book (served by clergy who had been ordained by a bishop but amenable to none), who qualified themselves under the act of 1712. This act was further modified in 1746 and 1748 to exclude clergy ordained in Scotland.

These causes reduced the Episcopalians who, in 1689, had been a large section of the population, to a minority save in a few corners of the west and north-east of Scotland. Their official recognition of George III, on the death of Charles Edward Stuart in 1788, removed the chief bar to progress. In 1792 the penal laws were repealed, but clerical disabilities were only finally removed in 1864. The qualified congregations were gradually absorbed in the early 19th century.

After the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, the Scottish Episcopal Church also took the step of consecrating Samuel Seabury at Aberdeen in 1784. He became the first bishop of the American Episcopal Church after being refused consecration by Church of England clergy. In this way, it can be said that the Episcopal Church in the United States owes as much of its origins to the Scottish Episcopal Church as to the Church of England.

The Theological College was founded in 1810, incorporated with Trinity College, Glenalmond, in 1848, and re-established at Edinburgh in 1876. Theological training is now provided by the various dioceses and is supervised by the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church (TISEC).

In 1900 the church had 356 congregations, with a total membership of 124,335 and 324 working clergy. Membership did not grow in the following decades as it was believed it would.

In 1989 there were approximately 200 stipendiary and 80 non-stipendiary clergy. Membership was 65,000, with 31,000 communicants.[10]

In the past 30 years the Scottish Episcopal Church has taken a stand on various issues including economic justice, the ordination of women and inclusion.

Membership

In terms of official membership Episcopalians comprise well under 1% of the population of Scotland, making them considerably smaller than the Church of Scotland. The Church has 310 parishes with a 2012 adult membership of 34,916 and communicant numbers some 10,000 fewer at 24,650.[1][11][12]

In 1995, the Scottish Episcopal Church began working through a process known as Mission 21. Canon Alice Mann of the Alban Institute was invited to begin developing a missionary emphasis within the congregations of the church throughout Scotland. This led to the development of the Making Your Church More Inviting programme which has now been completed by many congregations. In addition to working on making churches more inviting, Mission 21 emphasises reaching out to new populations which have previously not been contacted by the church. As Mission 21 has developed, changing patterns of ministry have become part of its remit.

As with other churches in Scotland, attendance has declined over recent years: the overall figures reflect rises in some dioceses and decline in others[13] but amount to an overall fall in attendance of 15 per cent between 2007 and 2012.[12]

Structure

Bishops and Primus

Map of the dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church

As an episcopal denomination, the church is governed by bishops, differentiating it from the national Church of Scotland which is presbyterian and governed by elders. However, unlike the Church of England, the bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church are elected in a procedure involving clergy and laity of the vacant diocese voting at an electoral synod.

The church is composed of seven dioceses, each with its own bishop:

Diocese Present bishop
Diocese of Saint Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane David Chillingworth (consecrated 11 March 2005)
Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney Bob Gillies (consecrated 22 September 2007)
Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness Mark Strange (elected 2 June 2007;[14][15] consecrated 13 October 2007)[16]
Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway Gregor Duncan (elected 16 January 2010; consecrated 23 April 2010)[17][18]
Diocese of Argyll and The Isles Kevin Pearson (consecrated 4 February 2011)[19]
Diocese of Brechin Nigel Peyton (consecrated 8 October 2011)
Diocese of Edinburgh John Armes (consecrated 12 May 2012)

All sees except Edinburgh (founded by Charles I) stem from sees of the Catholic Church in Scotland. The bishops of the Episcopal Church are direct successors of the prelates consecrated to Scottish sees at the Restoration. The bishops are addressed Right Reverend.

The College of Bishops constitutes the episcopal synod, the supreme court of appeal.

This synod elects from among its own members a presiding Bishop who has the title of Primus (the title originates from the Latin phrase Primus inter pares — 'First among equals').

The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the presiding bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church, is elected by the episcopal synod from among its members. His duties are:

The current incumbent is David Chillingworth, who took this office on 13 June 2009.

The Primus does not have any metropolitan jurisdiction - the last to hold such jurisdiction was Archbishop Arthur Rose (of St Andrews) up to his death in 1704.[20] The Primus is addressed Most Reverend.

Representative bodies

The church is governed by the General Synod. This consists of the House of Bishops, the House of Clergy and the House of Laity. The General Synod makes canon law, administers finance and monitors the work of the boards and committees of the Church. Most decisions are arrived at by a simple majority of members of the General Synod voting together. More complex legislation, such as changes to the Code of Canons requires each of the Houses to agree and to vote in favour by a two-thirds majority.

Each diocese has its synod of the clergy and laity. Its dean (similar to an archdeacon in the Church of England) is appointed by the bishop, and, on the voidance of the see, summons the diocesan synod, at the instance of the primus, to choose a bishop. Each diocese has one or more (in the case of some united dioceses) cathedrals. The senior priest of a Scottish Episcopal cathedral is styled as provost (as the title of 'dean' is given to the senior priest of the diocese as a whole, see above). The only exception in Scotland is the Cathedral of the Isles on the island of Great Cumbrae which has been led by a member of the clergy styled as Precentor. Diocesan deans and cathedral provosts are both addressed as Very Reverend.

Worship and liturgy

The Scottish Episcopal Church embraces three orders of ministry: deacon, priest (referred to in the 1929 Scottish Prayer Book as presbyter) and bishop. Increasingly, an emphasis is being placed on these orders to work collaboratively within the wider ministry of the whole people of God.

Liturgies

In addition to the "Scottish Prayer Book 1929". , the church has a number of other liturgies available to it. In recent years, revised Funeral Rites have appeared, along with liturgies for Christian Initiation (e.g. Baptism and Affirmation) and Marriage. The modern Eucharistic rite (Scottish Liturgy 1982) includes Eucharistic prayers for the various seasons in the Liturgical Year and is commonly known as "The Blue Book" - a reference to the colour of its covers. A further Eucharistic prayer is provided in the Marriage liturgy.

Doctrine and practice

The centre of teachings of the Scottish Episcopal Church is the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The basic teachings of the church, or catechism, includes:

The threefold sources of authority in Anglicanism are scripture, tradition, and reason. These three sources uphold and critique each other in a dynamic way.

This balance of scripture, tradition and reason is traced to the work of Richard Hooker, a sixteenth-century apologist. In Hooker's model, scripture is the primary means of arriving at doctrine and things stated plainly in scripture are accepted as true. Issues that are ambiguous are determined by tradition, which is checked by reason.[21]

Social issues

The Scottish Episcopal Church has been involved in Scottish politics. The Church is an opponent of nuclear weaponry.[22] Supporting devolution, it was one of the parties involved in the Scottish Constitutional Convention, which resulted in the setting up of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. The church actively supports the work of the Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office in Edinburgh and the Society, Religion and Technology Project.

In some areas, such as human sexuality, the church has faced a struggle. All orders of ministry are open to both male and female candidates. As yet, no women have been elected to the episcopate and thus there are no bishops who are women. Debate continues in the church as to the propriety of fully affirming the presence of lesbian and gay church members. However, in 2015 it agreed that an initial vote had been passed which could lead to the formal blessing of same-sex marriage.[23] Following that vote in favour of same-sex marriages, the Dundee cathedral hosted its first gay wedding.[24]

Ecumenical relations

Like many other Anglican churches, the Scottish Episcopal Church has entered into full communion with the Old Catholics of the Utrecht Union. The Scottish Episcopal Church is also a member of the Porvoo Communion and is a member of several ecumenical bodies, including Action of Churches Together in Scotland and the World Council of Churches.

In December 2009, there were reports that certain High Church traditionalists within the Scottish Episcopal Church were in favour of joining the Roman Catholic Church.[25]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Scottish Episcopal Church". Bishops Selection Advisers Handbook. Church of England. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
  2. ↑ Pittock, Murray (1994). Poetry and Jacobite politics in eighteenth-century Britain and Ireland. Cambridge studies in eighteenth-century English literature and thought 23. Cambridge University Press. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-521-41092-2.
  3. ↑ "United Kingdom: Basic Facts". worldmap.org. Mission Atlas Project. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Introduction". scotland.anglican.org. Scottish Episcopal Church. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  5. ↑ Published on Friday 4 April 2008 15:08 (2008-04-04). "We're NOT English Kirk! - Local Headlines". Lanark Gazette. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  6. ↑ Macleod, Murdo (16 July 2006). "Church fury over historic mistakes on 'English kirk'". The Scotsman (Edinburgh).
  7. ↑ Fletcher, Richard (1989). Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England. Shepheard-Walwyn. pp. 23–24. ISBN 0-85683-089-5.
  8. ↑ See Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560
  9. ↑  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Established Church of Scotland". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  10. ↑ Church of England Year Book 1990
  11. ↑ "Scottish Episcopal Church". Oikoumene.org. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  12. 1 2 http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2013/14-june/news/uk/scots-need-greater-numbers-%E2%80%98to-pay-the-rent%E2%80%99
  13. ↑ http://www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk/media/k2/attachments/Scottish_Episcopal_Church___Membership__Attendance_1989_2004.pdf
  14. ↑ "New Bishop". Diocesan website, news section. 2007-06-02. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-06-19.
  15. ↑ "New Bishop Elected for Moray, Ross & Caithness". Website of the Scottish Episcopal Church, news section. 2007-06-02. Retrieved 2007-06-19.
  16. ↑ The Scottish Episcopal Church – New Bishop of Moray, Ross & Caithness Consecrated
  17. ↑ "The Very Rev Dr Gregor Duncan elected as Bishop". 16 January 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  18. ↑ "New Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway to be consecrated in Cathedral ceremony". Scottish Episcopal Church. 23 April 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  19. ↑ "New Bishop of Argyll and The Isles to be consecrated and installed in Cathedral ceremony". Scottish Episcopal Church. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  20. ↑ "A Short History of the Episcopal Church in Scotland" by Frederick Goldie (revised edition - 1975) ISBN 0-7152-0315-0
  21. ↑ Anglican Listening goes into detail on how scripture, tradition, and reason work to "uphold and critique each other in a dynamic way".
  22. ↑ "MPs Sent Anti-Trident Message". The Scottish Episcopal Church. 2007-03-22. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
  23. ↑ Scottish Episcopal Church passes initial vote in favour of same-sex marriage
  24. ↑ "Dundee cathedral hosts historic same-sex marriage". www.thecourier.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  25. ↑ "Traditionalist Anglicans in Scotland celebrate Christmas". Forward in Faith. 2009-12-17. Retrieved 2010-12-26.

Further reading

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