Conscience and Compromise: Forgotten Evangelicals of Nineteenth-Century Scotland

The Scottish Episcopal Church in the nineteenth century was dominated by High Churchmen. But by around 1820, Evangelical clergy began to take up posts within its fold, particularly in the major Scottish cities, holiday centres and in places where wealthy patrons could supply funds necessary to sustain a church. The Evangelical newcomers reached a numerical peak from 1842 to 1854, when they accounted for around one in seven of all episcopal clergy in Scotland. They provided some of the most active and vibrant ministries in the country, notable for their work among the poor and in Sabbatarian, temperance and missionary endeavours. At the same time their private lives were marked by an attractiveness which belied some contemporary critics of Evangelicalism. The book explores the history of Evangelical Episcopalians in nineteenth-century Scotland. Doctrinal differences with the Scottish Episcopal Church particularly concerning evangelism eucharistic and baptismal thought are studied in detail against the background of the social history of this important group of churchmen.