Edited Collection on the Free Church of Scotland in the Wider World
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H-AmRel Edited Collection on the Free Church of Scotland in the wider world Discussion published by Daniel Ritchie on Thursday, March 23, 2017 Edited Collection in Scottish Religious History - Call for Essay Submissions Note: This topic is also relevant to American religious history, and we would especially appreciate contributions from American historians. The proposed collection of essays, After Disruption: Scottish Presbyterianism, the United Kingdom, and the Wider World seek to fill a significant gap in the existing historiography of nineteenth-century British religion. The Disruption of the Church of Scotland in 1843, which effectively split the Established Kirk in two and resulted in the formation of the Free Church, was an event of seismic proportions both within the United Kingdom and in the wider evangelical world. While the Disruption of 1843 and the preceding Ten Years’ Conflict has rightly dominated the historiography, historians need to give more attention needs to its short- and long-term aftermath. Hence the need for a volume of essays, bringing together the latest and most innovative research in this general field, which will provide fresh insight into the turbulent aftermath of the Disruption not only in Scotland but the rest of the United Kingdom and further afield. Regarding the aftermath of the Disruption within Scotland, we envisage that prospective essays will cover topics such as the impact of the schism on the Established Church, the Free Kirk, and wider Scottish Dissent. The years following the Disruption witnessed competing claims to the title of Scotland’s ‘national’ church from the Free and Established Churches, while the 1847 United Presbyterian union galvanized Scottish voluntaryism, culminating in union negotiations with the Free Kirk from 1863. English and Irish reactions are also of critical interest given the links between Scottish and Irish Presbyterians, the dominance of evangelicalism with English society, and the interest taken in the Scottish Disruption by both English Voluntaries and Churchmen. Further afield, the events of the Disruption and its aftermath were keenly watched by Presbyterians and other evangelicals in the United States of America and Canada. A significant controversy was provoked after the Disruption owing to the Free Church’s links with proslavery denominations in the United States, which has already proved to be a fruitful field of historical investigation. The missionary zeal of the Free Church in the wider British Empire is a subject of wide interest to both historians of religion and imperialism. This collection of essays will cover various crucial themes related to the aftermath of the Scottish Disruption. These include church-state relations, politics, anti-Catholicism, cultural and national identity, colonialism, home rule, slavery and abolitionism, race, missions, gender, class, Anglo- American relations, inter-denominational relations, social history, theology, and secularization. Such themes are indicative of the global impact of what has often been regarded as a parochial Scottish affair. It is the purpose of this collection of essays to draw attention to the far-reaching implications Citation: Daniel Ritchie. Edited Collection on the Free Church of Scotland in the wider world . H-AmRel. 03-23-2017. https://networks.h-net.org/node/15697/discussions/168195/edited-collection-free-church-scotland-wider-world Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-AmRel social, cultural, religious, and political implications of the Scottish Disruption for both the United Kingdom and the wider world. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for an essay to this collection, which will be published by a major university press, please contact the editors via e-mail by 20 July 2017. The editors of this collection are Dr. Daniel Ritchie ([email protected]) and Ryan Mallon ([email protected]). Citation: Daniel Ritchie. Edited Collection on the Free Church of Scotland in the wider world . H-AmRel. 03-23-2017. https://networks.h-net.org/node/15697/discussions/168195/edited-collection-free-church-scotland-wider-world Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2.