The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
What’s lost and gained
Five hundred years to the day since the start of the Protestant Reformation, Michael Alexander examines the role of St Andrews and asks some of Scotland’s religious leaders what lessons can be learned from a turbulent past
Five hundred years ago today, an unknown monk called Martin Luther marched up to a church in Wittenberg, a small town in what is now eastern Germany, and nailed a list to its door which criticised some of the practices and doctrines of the late Medieval Roman Catholic church.
His list of criticisms – known as the 95 theses – protested against what he regarded as the “corrupt” sale of ‘indulgences’ – payments the church said reduced punishment for sins after death – and lit the fuse of what became the Protestant Reformation.
Reverberations across Europe ranged from a split in the church, the fighting of wars and the burning of people at the stake to the translation of the Bible into languages other than Latin and the expansion of literacy to those other than the wealthy.
In Scotland, it was ultimately the other founder of the European Reformation – the French theologian Jean Calvin – who was to have the greatest influence in terms of theology, doctrines and forms of church government and polity.
The influence of Luther was also important, however, with St Andrews laying claim to being the birthplace of the Scottish Reformation - four early Reformers were sentenced to death in the town for their beliefs.
The first was 24-year-old Patrick Hamilton who was burnt at the stake in North Street in 1527 after he promoted the doctrines of Martin Luther. Benedictine friar Henry Forrest was burned to death near St Andrews Cathedral in 1533 for owning a copy of the New Testament in English. George Wishart was burnt at the stake outside St Andrews Castle in 1546 for defying the Catholic Church and former Angus priest Walter Myln followed in 1558, having advocated married clergy.
In the end their cause prevailed. In 1559 St Andrews Cathedral – Scotland’s largest church at the time – was sacked and desecrated by a mob following a “famously fiery” sermon preached in the town’s Holy Trinity Church by John Knox, and Scotland became officially Protestant a year later.
Today St Andrews, with its commemorative Martyrs Monument at The Scores, is the only place in the UK to be officially designated as a “City of the Reformation” by the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe. But 500 years on, amid an increasingly secular society, what lessons can be learned from the often violent events of five centuries ago?
A spokesperson for the Catholic Church told The Courier the time was right for a “sober analysis” of what was “lost and gained” in Scotland during those turbulent times.
“When St Andrews Cathedral was dedicated in 1318,” the spokesman said “it was by far the largest church in Scotland.
“Two hundred and fifty years later in 1559, the Protestant reformer John Knox preached a famously fiery sermon against idolatry which resulted in the building being attacked and desecrated, the friars of the cathedral were “violently expelled” and the cathedral was subsequently abandoned and ruined.
“The Reformation left the town bereft of its cathedral and in many ways robbed Scotland of much of its cultural and spiritual patrimony. Five hundred years on we would benefit as a country from a sober analysis of what has been lost and gained as a result.”
The current Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Very Rev Dr Derek Browning, is a St Andrews University divinity graduate with a keen interest in history. He met Pope Francis for the first time in Rome last week and will be in Germany today to commemorate the Reformation.
While lessons can be learned from history, the Edinburgh-born former minister of Cupar Old Parish Church says it is “not helpful” to impose 21st Century ideas on 16th Century people.
“What was most significant about the Reformation process in Scotland was that it reconnected people to the church, to political and social processes, to the Bible and, significantly, allowed people to worship in their native language,” he said.
“That was something that was particularly significant here in Scotland because alongside changes in the religious world, one of the key things the Scottish Reformers went on to do was ensure that as well as a church in every parish area, there was also a school in every parish area – and that’s something we should be proud of in our country.”
During their meeting last week, Pope Francis told Rev Browning it is a “great gift” that the Catholic Church is able to live in “true fraternity” with the Church of Scotland in 2017. He told the Moderator the two denominations enjoyed a relationship of “mutual understanding, trust and cooperation”.
Rev Browning said it was “very significant” that, in this day and age, the churches, and people of many faiths, can honestly recognise that in spite of different opinions on certain matters, they are united by far more and should not see each others as rivals.