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This thesis examines Evangelicalism as a broadly-based intellectual and social movement which sought to shape the overall thought and life of the Church of Scotland during the first half of the nineteenth century. A set of distinctive organisations --religious periodicals, voluntary societies, education, and corporate prayer-- provided its institutional structure. They represented the practical response to a general concern for revitalising the Church, for evangelism, and for social morality. 'Evangelicals' are defined as those who combined participation in these institutions with a fundamental commitment to the Church of Scotland as an established, national church. The development of each of these institutions is explored as a means of tracing the growth of the movement as a whole. Religious periodicals helped to unite scattered individuals within the Established Church who shared a desire to spread experiential Christianity. By providing a forum for discussing issues related to this concern, these publications communicated Evangelical ideas throughout the Kirk, giving Evangelicals far greater influence than their relative lack of power in the ecclesiastical courts around the turn of the century suggested they would have. Religious voluntary societies enabled Evangelicals to translate their ideas into action on a wide range of issues. The seeming effectiveness of groups such as missionary and Bible societies made Evangelicalism increasingly attractive, and led to the incorporation of their activist approach into existing Kirk structures after the mid-1820s. However, Evangelicals struggled with the tensions between the gathered and territorial views of the Church inherent in their commitments both to societies and to the Establishment. Because Evangelicals, following the Scottish Reformers, believed that education encouraged biblically-based Christianity, they were actively involved in all levels of education, from Sabbath schools to the universities, helping to spread Evangelical ideas and practice among young people. Evangelicals' emphasis upon corporate prayer not only reflected their belief that they needed divine aid to achieve their aims, but built up social bonds at a local level and reinforced commitment to the other Evangelical institutions.

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Traditionally, Ebenezer Erskine (1680-1754)- a leading Marrow Representer and 'founder' of the Secession Church- has been understood as either reclaiming a lost evangelical element of Scottish theology or portending a new factionalism that ultimately would splinter a formerly united Kirk. Such considerations of Erskine, however, have been undertaken without serious consideration being given to his theology and have been pursued in accordance with the historiographical interests of the later Secession Church. In the present work, Erskine is established within his own context- historical, ecclesiastical, and theological- and attention is given to the doctrinal system that shaped his ministry and his succession of controversial engagements. The picture that emerges is that of a man driven by two chief theological emphases- an evangelical federalism and a modified Covenantalism. In both of these doctrinal systems, Erskine was self-consciously drawing upon the complex inheritance of Scottish theology, particularly the systems of Westminster federalism and of Covenantal dissent within the Revolution Church, and was seeking to apply those systems to a contemporary Scotland that had been radically altered by the Union of 1707; the advent of toleration in 1712; and the theological commitments embodied in John Simson, Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow. When Erskine is thus understood as seeking to contextually apply a commonly-inherited body of Scottish theology, new understandings of his involvement in Kirk-shaping controversies arise, presenting a more coherent picture of a major figure in the history of the Kirk, bringing increased clarity to an obscure age, and proving instructive to a twenty-first century Church facing similar issues yet unaware of Erskine's sometimes contentious testimony to contextual fidelity.

This thesis is the first study of Church of Scotland chaplains serving with the Army during the Second World War. It explores the way in which the Church of Scotland accepted the challenge of the Second World War and how the Presbyterian chaplains were recruited, trained and how they performed their ministerial duties under wartime conditions. The thesis opens with an examination of the Church of Scotland during the inter-war years, with particular attention to the background of those ministers who were ordained in the 1930s and who were later recruited as Army Chaplains from 1939-45. The discussion highlights pacifism, anti-Semitism, and the Scottish response on the German Church struggle. The thesis then considers from a Scottish perspective the history of the Royal Army Chaplains' Department and the involvement of the Church of Scotland Chaplains' Committee in looking after the interests of Presbyterian chaplains and Scottish soldiers at home and overseas. The thesis considers the factors which led ministers to enlist as chaplains, and assesses the training which they received. It shows how Scottish chaplains integrated with both officers and men and the contribution they made to the moral and spiritual life of many units. Inevitably a number of chaplains were captured in the course of their duty and taken as prisoners of war. This thesis includes a chapter on ministry in the POW camps. The thesis includes two case studies on the wartime experiences of the Very Rev Prof. T.F. Torrance and the Very Rev Dr. R. Selby Wright. Torrance was enlisted into the Church of Scotland Huts and Canteens organisation and saw active service in Italy. Selby Wright meanwhile enlisted as a TA chaplain in 1939 but was later seconded to the BBC as the "Radio Padre". Finally, this thesis concludes with a chapter in which the chaplains are allowed to reflect on their wartime experience and an assessment is made of the overall work and worth of this particular wartime ministry.

This thesis examines and critiques the doctrine of baptism in the theology of Thomas Torrance and utilises aspects of Torrance’s doctrine to recover and enrich the meaning of baptism in Westminster theology. Torrance’s doctrine of baptism has suffered from misunderstanding and has been widely neglected. This arises from Torrance introducing a new soteriological paradigm, that is claimed by Torrance, to be both new, and at the same time to be a recovery of the work of the early church fathers and Calvin. It is the contention of this thesis that Torrance’s soteriological paradigm is more ‘new’ than it is a recovery of either the early church fathers or Calvin. Torrance’s new paradigm is not easily identified as ‘new’ because of Torrance’s creative use of Irenaeus, Athanasius and Calvin. His theology is further misunderstood by many because it is partly seen to derive from his criticism of a caricature of Westminster theology. The purpose here is to provide an exposition of Torrance’s doctrine of baptism, identifying union with Christ and Christ’s vicarious humanity as key doctrines that inform his theology of baptism. Torrance has a distinct and unique soteriological paradigm based on an ontological healing in the incarnation. He refers to this as a ‘dimension in depth’ where the atonement takes place from the virgin birth through to the ascension, where the work of Christ is the person of Christ. It will be argued that Torrance exaggerates the degree to which his views may be found in the early church fathers and in Calvin. It is also suggested that many of his criticisms of Westminster theology have some basis, but that his detailed arguments diminishes his more valid general criticisms. The thesis identifies Torrance’s distinct voice from the early church fathers and Calvin and attempts to dismiss Torrance’s caricature of Westminster theology, so that Torrance’s distinct soteriology can be recognised, his genuine criticisms of Westminster theology considered, and the contribution that he has made on baptism be recovered. The doctrine of baptism that emerges from incorporating many of Torrance’s insights is a reformed covenantal doctrine of baptism that stresses the importance of ontological union for covenantal solidarity, but will reject Torrance’s redemptive understanding of ontological healing. Torrance centres the meaning of baptism in Christ and Christ’s one vicarious baptism for the church, and serves to identify how the church has lost its focus on what lies at the centre of baptism. However Torrance’s doctrine of baptism that argues for the theological primacy of infant baptism lost the debate in the Church of Scotland, which now places a greater emphasis on adult baptism. It is suggested that the reasons for this failure is that Torrance’s doctrine of baptism was developed outside of the framework of covenant theology, and that his doctrine of soteriology on which his doctrine of baptism was based left little room for the human response. The thesis concludes that Torrance’s doctrine of baptism can serve as a model for the recovery of the meaning of baptism. While the central thrust of Torrance’s redemptive ontological union with Christ is rejected, Torrance’s emphasis on union with Christ, the incarnation, the person and work of Christ, and Christ’s vicarious baptism can be incorporated into the reformed doctrine of baptism to recover its meaning.

The purposes of this work are to examine the development and functions of the church court which came to be known as the presbytery during the late sixteenth century and during the early seventeenth century in Scotland, as well as providing a more readily accessible primary source for further studies within the area. The development of a presbyterian polity in Scotland during the sixteenth century is attested to by the surviving records of its kirk sessions, presbyteries, synods and general assemblies. This study is concerned primarily with the record of the St. Andrews presbytery; it was among the first established, and its importance as the presbytery of which Andrew Melville was a member and in which he had significant influence marks it as a church court of unusual interest and marks its records as a valuable source for the study of the development of presbyteries. The introduction surveys the historical background and the evolution of church courts along with the extant records of the earliest presbyteries. Specific attention is given to the St. Andrews record and its condition, history and characteristics. Further analysis of the responsibilities of the presbytery is included along with comparisons to other contemporary records and the relationships between the presbytery and other ecclesiastical judicatories, as well as the effects of changing political circumstances. Textual notes are supplied as is a complete index of subjects, persons, and places.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill., 1999. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-151).

Thesis (M.A.)--Briercrest Biblical Seminary, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-114).