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A Layman�s Guide to the Scottish ReformationA Layman�s Guide to the
Scottish Reformation. Brian J. Orr. A Layman's Guide to the Scottish
Reformation relates the story of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland and the
subsequent trials and tribulations of the nascent Presbyterian Church. Covering
the period from about 1530 to 1690 it is one of the busiest periods in Scottish
and English history ranging across the reigns of Mary Queen of Scots and the
Stuart Kings, James VI/I, Charles I, Charles II and James II. For added spice
there are the complications of the Wars of the three kingdoms, rebellion in
Ireland, and Cromwell's republican rule of the Commonwealth. Through this heady
cocktail of events runs the story of the Presbyterian Kirk, the battle against
the Divine Right policies of the Kings' and their demands for uniformity with
the Episcopalian Church of England; and, the stubborn dissent and bloody
persecution of the Covenanters in their stand for religious freedom. The Guide
is the sister work to the author's first book As God is my Witness (Heritage
Books Inc, 2002) which told the story of the people of the Reformation. The
Guide deals with the events of the Reformation and is very widely referenced to
many early works by clerical historians that are mainly now in archives and
antiquarian collections. A very substantial and detailed Time Line provides a
consecutive record of events. The bulk of the work is in a dictionary format of
augmented notes on several hundred topics ranging from the 'Aberdeen Assembly,
1605' to 'Zeal - defence of Presbyterianism.' A substantial Glossary is provided
along with a Dramatis Personae of the main character of the Reformation.
Lavishly illustrated, it also has a lengthy bibliography as a source for further
reading, and some 24 appendices (primarily text) of rare documents relevant to
the early history of Presbyterianism. 2004, 5�x8�, paper, index, 594 pp. |