What is the Free Church of Scotland?

IF 0.5 Q4 POLITICAL SCIENCE

Scottish Affairs Pub Date : 2023-08-01 DOI:10.1163/1877-5888_rpp_sim_07840

Alex J. MacDonald

引用次数: 0

Abstract

The 2023 Leadership contest for the Scottish National Party unexpectedly thrust a small Presbyterian denomination – the Free Church of Scotland – into the centre of political commentary. The social views of one of the candidates, Kate Forbes, a member of the church, formed the focal point of the early days in the campaign. A good deal of this commentary was deeply hostile towards the Free Church, suggesting that its members were morally unsuited, indeed unfit, to hold the highest office in Scotland. No other candidate (and indeed no other prominent Scottish or British politician) has received such scrutiny or criticism on the grounds of their religion or belief. One voice wholly absent in the debate was the Free Church and its people. In this article, then, a senior Free Church minister, and former Moderator of its General Assembly, explores the ‘DNA’ of the Free Church, its historical contribution to Scotland, and where it stands today.

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苏格兰自由教会是什么?

苏格兰民族党(Scottish National Party) 2023年的党魁竞选出人意料地将一个小型长老会教派——苏格兰自由教会(Free Church of Scotland)推到了政治评论的中心。其中一位候选人、教会成员凯特·福布斯(Kate Forbes)的社会观点成为竞选初期的焦点。很多评论都对自由教会充满敌意，认为其成员在道德上不适合，实际上不适合担任苏格兰的最高职位。没有其他候选人(实际上也没有其他杰出的苏格兰或英国政治家)因为宗教或信仰而受到如此严格的审查或批评。在辩论中完全缺席的一个声音是自由教会及其人民。在这篇文章中，一位自由教会的高级牧师，也是自由教会大会的前任主持人，探讨了自由教会的“DNA”，它对苏格兰的历史贡献，以及它今天的地位。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Scottish Affairs POLITICAL SCIENCE-

CiteScore

1.20

自引率

25.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Scottish Affairs, founded in 1992, is the leading forum for debate on Scottish current affairs. Its predecessor was Scottish Government Yearbooks, published by the University of Edinburgh''s ''Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland'' between 1976 and 1992. The movement towards the setting up the Scottish Parliament in the 1990s, and then the debate in and around the Parliament since 1999, brought the need for a new analysis of Scottish politics, policy and society. Scottish Affairs provides that opportunity. Fully peer-reviewed, it publishes articles on matters of concern to people who are interested in the development of Scotland, often setting current affairs in an international or historical context, and in a context of debates about culture and identity. This includes articles about similarly placed small nations and regions throughout Europe and beyond. The articles are authoritative and rigorous without being technical and pedantic. No subject area is excluded, but all articles pay attention to the social and political context of their topics. Thus Scottish Affairs takes up a position between informed journalism and academic analysis, and provides a forum for dialogue between the two. The readers and contributors include journalists, politicians, civil servants, business people, academics, and people in general who take an informed interest in current affairs.