Emotions in Scottish Protestant Public Worship, 1560-1638

Nathan Hood is an independent scholar. He received his PhD in the History of Christianity from the University of Edinburgh (2020) and was appointed the Hope Trust Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-22). He has produced several book chapters and articles exploring the role of emotion in early modern Scottish Protestantism.

For all that Protestant Christianity is a religion of the book, with faith under the authority of the Word, it is arresting that weeping and sighing were the signs of corporate covenant renewal, notably at the signing of the National Covenant in 1638. This mode of expression could be shared by all, from the mightiest theologian to the barely educated. Fully informed by the work of ‘historians of the emotions’ and by the last decade or two of work on the piety of the ‘Scottish Reformations’, this work pinpoints contemporary (i.e. early modern) ‘research’ formed from the case-studies of the likes of Rev. John Weemes, but also insightful female writers (Mistress Rutherford, Elizabeth Melville). The Post-Reformation continued the embodied expressiveness of late medieval piety including public penance, and the significance of Romans 8:26-27, ‘even’ for the likes of John Knox, is made clear. The positivity of the preaching of David Dickson and Robert Rollock, to take two examples, is refreshing: grace can extend to every type of sinner. Preaching was about ‘use’ or application of Scripture, moving from worldly sorrow to godly sorrow and setting up for the corporate mystical experience of Reformed Communions. In showing how the affections moved by the Spirit as the link between instruction and Christian practice at the origins of the Scottish Protestant Kirk, Emotions in Scottish Protestant Public worship should be required reading for church leaders of public worship today.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Scottish Protestant Worship and the History of EmotionsChapter One: Defining the Passions and AffectionsChapter Two: Public Prayer as ‘Talking with God’Chapter Three: Preaching: The Instrument of ConversionChapter Four: Public Repentance as a Performance of ConversionChapter Five: Ecstasy in the Lord’s SupperChapter Six: Emotional Directions in the Service Book and the National CovenantConclusion: The Centrality of Emotion in the rituals of the Kirk Bibliography