Scottish Episcopal Church

The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition. Formally incorporated in the early eighteenth century, the church is part of a continuous tradition of Christian worship in Scotland that began in the fourth century.

Two saints—St. Ninian and later St. Columba—are credited with bringing Christianity to Scotland. St. Ninian arrived in the late fourth century and began preaching to the Picts inhabiting the southwestern portion of Scotland. In the sixth century, St. Columba arrived and continued to spread Christianity across the country. The churches and monasteries established were Roman Catholic, strengthened by the Scottish monarchs who bolstered the relationship between the Vatican and Scotland by facilitating the establishment of several monasteries beginning in the eleventh century.

The Protestant Reformation that swept through Europe in the sixteenth century led to the development of an episcopal, or bishop-led, church in Scotland, England, and other places.

In 2025, the Scottish Episcopal Church had 23,503 members. Members worshiped in about 350 parishes, organized into seven dioceses. Membership in the Scottish Episcopal Church, as in other Scottish churches, has declined precipitously: the Scottish Church Census, which surveys all denominations, found that there were 390,000 total churchgoers in Scotland in 2016, representing 7.2 percent of the national population, down from 620,000 (12.3 percent) in 2000. The church is part of the Anglican Communion, Porvoo Communion, and World Council of Churches.

History

French theologian John Calvin and his pupil John Knox first influenced the Scottish Protestants in the sixteenth century. Knox, an itinerant preacher who fled to France and then Geneva when the Catholic Mary I came to the throne in England, brought Calvin's Reformed theology to Scotland. He is credited with establishing the Presbyterian denomination and preventing the Church of England from replacing Catholicism as Scotland's national religion when the Scottish Parliament voted to eliminate the pope's authority in 1560.

Not all of Knox's ideas were adopted, however, and it was not until 1572 that a plan for choosing bishops was established. In 1582, the Church of Scotland opted for a Presbyterian form of government. Instead of appointed bishops, the churches were governed by presbyters, or elected elders. Those who preferred the episcopal form of church governance established the Scottish Episcopal Church.

It would take more than a century, however, before the two churches would become established. In 1689, the political battle between the king of Scotland, William II (also known as William III of England and William of Orange), and James VII (also known as James II of England) included the church. William, a Presbyterian-leaning Protestant, drove the Catholic James out of Scotland and then demanded oaths of allegiance from the clergy, including Episcopal bishops who had favored James in the dispute. By 1690, growing anti-episcopal factions gained enough power, and episcopacy was banned in Scotland. The Presbyterian forces grew strong and deprived many Episcopal clergy of their congregations. Although William allowed Episcopal clergy who accepted Presbyterianism to return to the church, Presbyterianism was firmly established as the prominent Protestant denomination in Scotland.

Despite this, the Episcopalians maintained a faithful presence in Scotland, even in the aftermath of the Jacobite resistance. This series of conflicts between the Scottish Catholic sympathizers of James, known as Jacobites (Jacobus is Latin for James), and William's troops led to the defeat of the Jacobites and severe penalties for any who had sided with them—which included many Episcopalians. Scottish clergy who were ordained by a Scottish bishop were given restrictions and forbidden to preach to more than five people at a time.

These penalties were in effect from the mid-1700s until 1804, when the Convocations of Laurencekirk, a series of meetings where the Episcopal church accepted the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, a public declaration of the church's beliefs. This brought the Episcopal church back into agreement with the Presbyterian church.

In the midst of this turmoil, the Scottish Episcopal Church played a key role in the establishment of the Episcopal Church in America. After the American victory in the Revolutionary War in 1783, the Americans who had followed the Anglican tradition in the former colonies no longer wanted to be affiliated with the Church of England in the new United States. They sought to establish their own Episcopal church but needed bishops. A Scottish bishop consecrated Samuel Seabury as America's first Episcopal bishop in 1784. This is often credited as the beginning of the Anglican Communion.

The Scottish Episcopal Church continued in relative peace after the early nineteenth century, establishing missions around the world and working in partnerships with other churches.

The 2017 decision of the Scottish Episcopal Church to permit, but not require, clergy to perform same-sex marriages in the church led some parishes to break away in dissent and the Anglican Communion to censure the national church. Its leaders were barred from representing Anglicans in interfaith and ecumenical contexts and from voting on doctrinal matters for three years.

Beliefs

The Scottish Episcopal Church believes in the Holy Trinity (God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit). Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully God, and through his death and resurrection, he opened the way to eternal life for believers. The church accepts the Old Testament and New Testament of the Bible for doctrinal purposes and the Apocryphal books for spiritual purposes.

Baptism and communion are the two main sacraments. The church also recognizes confirmation, ordination, marriage, reconciliation (confession), and unction (anointing of the sick) as outward signs of a person's spiritual journey.

Scripture, tradition, and reason are considered equally important in the Episcopal Christian faith. The church uses a Book of Common Prayer, which draws heavily from scripture. While liturgical celebrations are important, daily personal prayer is also encouraged.

Organization

The Scottish Episcopal Church ordains clergy to three orders—bishop, priest, and deacon—and may be male or female. The church also recognizes the importance of the laity in church practice and governance. Individual parishes are headed by an ordained rector or vicar and governed by a vestry composed of elected members of the congregation.

Parishes are grouped into one of seven dioceses, each headed by a bishop who is elected by clergy and laity. The Scottish Episcopal Church as a whole is governed by a general synod formed by the college of bishops, the house of clergy, and the house of laity, with an elected primus chosen from among the seven diocesan bishops.

Bibliography

Davies, Matthew. "Scottish Episcopal Church Faces Same ‘Consequences’ as U.S.-Based Episcopal Church." Anglican Journal, 3 Oct. 2017, www.anglicanjournal.com/scottish-episcopal-church-faces-consequences-u-s-based-episcopal-church. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.

“Introduction.” The Scottish Episcopal Church, www.scotland.anglican.org/who-we-are/about-us/introduction/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.

MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. Viking, 2011.

"Scottish Episcopal Church." World Council of Churches, www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/scottish-episcopal-church. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.

"Scottish Episcopal Church Approves Gay Marriage." BBC, 8 June 2017, www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-40190204. Accessed 15 Jan. 2019.

Stranraer-Mull, Gerald. Steps on the Way: A History of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Inverness, Scotland: For the Right Reasons Community Print, 2013.

"What Is Christianity." The Scottish Episcopal Church, www.scotland.anglican.org/who-we-are/about-us/what-is-christianity. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.