A number of churches that grew out of the Protestant Reformation took as their inspiration John Calvin rather than Martin Luther. These are collectively known as Presbyterian or Reformed. Calvin was more radical than Luther in his break with past practice in church organization and liturgy, rejecting decoration in churches, ceremony and almost all music in services, as well as the office of bishop. This resulted in Presbyterianism developing as an austere, simple but dignified style of worship with a deep spirituality. The movement is followed by around 24 million people globally, and is found in significant numbers in Scotland, Holland, Switzerland and the United States.
Among Calvin’s innovations was his creation of the role of elder, a noncleric who was involved in both the democratic decision-making process of the church and the provision of pastoral care. He—and originally elders were all men—was a priest/minister without being ordained. Indeed, the origin of the word Presbyterian lies in the Greek for “elder”—presbyteros. In the early Church, Calvin argued, quoting the Acts of the Apostles, there were lay elders who were the equal of clerical bishops: “In each of these churches, they appointed elders, and with prayer and fasting, they commanded them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.”
Spread of Presbyterianism Presbyterianism spread rapidly from Calvin’s Geneva base. Among those profoundly influenced by his teaching was John Knox, who traveled to Switzerland and worked under him. When he later returned to his native Scotland (at that time a separate kingdom from England and Wales), Knox was prominent in the rebellion that broke out in 1558 over the marriage of the young monarch, Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Catholic heir to the French throne. He eventually persuaded the Scottish Parliament of 1560 to adopt Calvinism as the national Church of Scotland, popularly known as the Kirk. Even after the 1707 Act of Union, which disbanded the Scottish Parliament in favor of a single legislature in London, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland remained the established church north of the border, as Anglicanism was to the south.
John Knox
Had it not been for John Knox (c.1510–72), the Church of Scotland might well have ended up Anglican, as in England, rather than Presbyterian. Given that it was the existence of a Presbyterian national church in Scotland that inspired many Reformed believers—not least the Puritans who traveled to the United States—Knox has a strong claim to be counted alongside Calvin as one of the founders of worldwide Presbyterianism. He had served as a chaplain to the Protestant Edward VI of England until the king’s death in 1553, but left the country on the accession of the Catholic Mary I, traveling to Geneva to join Calvin’s religious revolution. While there, he devised a new order of service, which was later adopted by the Church of Scotland. On his return to his homeland, he proved a steadfast opponent for Mary, Queen of Scots, rebuffing her every effort (including breaking down in tears) to coopt him to the cause of a religious tolerance that would embrace both her own Catholicism and his Presbyterianism. An implacable, unbending man, he died in 1572 a celebrated national figure, but penniless, leaving as his legacy the conviction that religious freedom was more important than loyalty to any monarch.
Presbyterianism also thrived in the Dutch Republic. In 1571, the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) held its first synod at Emden and formally adopted a Calvinist program. For a period all state officials were required to be members of the DRC, but it never became the country’s established church.
“Elder is identical with bishop, and before parties multiplied under diabolical influence, churches were governed by a council of elders.”
St. Jerome, 347–420
Calvin’s influence was felt in England too. The Westminster Confession, agreed in 1646 at a gathering of those opposing King Charles I in the English Civil War, was strongly Calvinist in its theology. It remains one of the key texts of Presbyterianism in the English-speaking world. In 1972 the English Presbyterian Church joined with the Congregationalist Church to form the United Reform Church or URC.
The Iona community
In the late 1930s, George MacLeod, a prominent Church of Scotland minister, established the Iona community on an isolated island off the west coast of Scotland from where, in the sixth century, St. Columba had brought a distinctively Celtic form of Christianity to the peoples of Scotland and northern England. Over the years MacLeod faced extensive opposition from the General Assembly of his own conservative church, but he was determined to proceed with an initiative that he felt would renew Presbyterianism. The result—an ecumenical community with a distinctive liturgical approach, simple, dignified and contemporary, in the spirit of Calvin—has won admiration from all around the world.
Book of Order Presbyterian churches are confessional in that they adhere to a basic set of written texts. They share a common regard for the Book of Order as the means of regulating their practice and forms of worship. This is based on The Form of Prayer and Ministration of the Sacraments, first published in Geneva in 1556, an account of how congregations lived out Calvin’s teachings there. In addition, Calvin’s magnum opus, his Institutes of Christian Religion, begun in 1536 and completed in 1559, remains influential.
“For anyone to arrive at God the Creator he needs Scripture as his Guide and Teacher.”
John Calvin, 1559
Most branches of the Presbyterian church continue to follow a democratic structure in line with Calvin’s principles, developed in the progressive political culture of sixteenth-century Switzerland. In Scotland, local “kirk” sessions have considerable autonomy. Above these in the hierarchy are the regional “presbyteries” and, as the final authority, a General Assembly of lay and clerical delegates.
The Presbyterian church encourages individuals to develop their own personal relationship with God and the Bible. However, it also maintains—unlike, for example, the Baptists—that the group and the church have an equally important role in shaping belief.
the condensed idea
Religious liberty is supreme
| timeline | |
|---|---|
| 1559 | Calvin’s Institute of Christian Religion completed |
| 1560 | Kirk established |
| 1571 | First synod of Dutch Reformed Church |
| 1646 | Westminster Confessions |
| 1707 | Act of Union endorses Scotland’s national church |