Origin of Presbyterianism

[Wannabe_Monk_16]

Hello CAF!

Could you please tell me who started the Presbyterian denomination and why? Is there a revolutionary analogous to Martin Luther and the Lutherans?

Thank you and God bless!

 

[Padres1969]

Hello CAF!

Could you please tell me who started the Presbyterian denomination and why? Is there a revolutionary analogous to Martin Luther and the Lutherans?

Thank you and God bless!

Presbyterianism at its genesis is largely the work of Scotsman John Knox who was heavily influenced by John Calvin and the Reformed movement on the continent.

 

[Hatikvah]

This is a simple summary of their history. I highlighted the most important parts:

… the beginning of Presbyterianism as a distinct movement occurred during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. As the Catholic Church resisted the reformers, several different theological movements splintered from the Church and bore different denominations. Presbyterianism was especially influenced by the French theologian John Calvin, who is credited with the development of Reformed theology, and the work of John Knox, a Scotsman who studied with Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland and brought his teachings back to Scotland. The Presbyterian church traces its ancestry back primarily to England and Scotland. In August 1560 the Parliament of Scotland adopted the Scots Confession as the creed of the Scottish Kingdom. In December 1560, the First Book of Discipline was published, outlining important doctrinal issues but also establishing regulations for church government, including the creation of ten ecclesiastical districts with appointed superintendents which later became known as presbyteries.

John Wycliffe’s ideas of congregational ruling and use of the vernacular, among other things, have a great influence among the governance of Presbyterian and congregationalist churches, though not necessarily the theology.

 

[ComplineSanFran]

Hello CAF!

Could you please tell me who started the Presbyterian denomination and why? Is there a revolutionary analogous to Martin Luther and the Lutherans?

I think a better word than revolutionary would be reformer. Calvin’s journey was not like Luther’s, primarily in conflict with Rome, but he certainly was controversial in his theology and politics. The Reformation was well underway by the time he made his mark.

Presbyterians come out of Scotland, for the most part, and then of course to the New World. You know, Calvin and Knox didn’t ‘start’ the Presbyterian church; their theology is the basis for Presbyterian doctrine but they didn’t set out to found a new denomination. The Reformation was spinning by the mid to late 16th century and there were circles of thought throughout Europe. Calvinists found ways to be together and to create new systems. It’s all very complicated and certainly worth studying. The Reformation and Counter Reformation made Christianity what it is today.

 

[ltwin]

Hello CAF!

Could you please tell me who started the Presbyterian denomination and why? Is there a revolutionary analogous to Martin Luther and the Lutherans?

Thank you and God bless!

You could say that John Knox is Scotland’s Martin Luther. But Knox was a Calvinist. He was heavily influenced by the Reformation in Geneva, of which Calvin was a leader.

“Presbyterian” is just the name we give to Scottish Calvinism. Basically, in terms of historic theology, there is no difference between the Church of Scotland (and all the other Presbyterian churches that branch off from this church) and the Dutch Reformed Church (and the Reformed churches that branch off from this, such as the Reformed Church in America) or the Huguenots of France,etc.A Presbyterian is simply a member of an historically Calvinist church with ties to Scotland.

There was this whole conflict in Scotland because the Stuart kings wanted to make the Scottish church more like the Church of England (which had an episcopal governance). Supporters of a national Scottish Church independent of the control of Anglican kings became known as “presbyterians” (for their support of presbyterian polity) and those who favored greater Anglicization of the Scottish Church became known as “episcopalians”.

So, today Scotland’s national church is presbyterian, while there is also the Scottish Episcopal Church, which is part of the Anglican Communion.

 

[Tomyris]

Hello CAF!

Could you please tell me who started the Presbyterian denomination and why? Is there a revolutionary analogous to Martin Luther and the Lutherans?

Thank you and God bless!

Sure!

Jesus Christ, AD 33. Because He put groups of leaders into authority rather than any one single leader. This is attested by Him selecting 12, not 1, but 12 disciples, the Council (not one man declaring anything) and the command for multiple elderS to be appointed in various cities as we see in Titus 1 and other texts.

We also see this is the early texts of how the church was run, such as in 1 Clement, where the elders of the church - not the bishop - but the elders of Rome wrote to Corinth. It was only later historical revisionism that attributed that epistle to the singular Clement, as there is no evidence of a singular bishop in Rome at the time from the letter. This letter is primary historical evidence that a bishop in Rome was a later novelty, contrary to the earlier pattern.

So, the word ‘revolutionary’ is incorrect regarding those who reformed the church away from the episcopal model and returned it to its earlier purity. We do not know the names of the earliest reformers, as they were burned by the King of France in an effort to suppress the reformers. Calvin, for example, fled to Geneva to escape the pyre.

The real ‘revolutionaries’ were those who instituted an episcopal system and all its attendant ill effects. The Church is still suffering from it.

Anyway that is how Presbyterians see it.

I am sure you will all agree.

 

[Wannabe_Monk_16]

I think a better word than revolutionary would be reformer.

I’m sorry but I would consider Fr. Martin Luther - a former priest who broke away from the Catholic Church - a revolutionary rather than a reformer as to one who stayed within the Catholic Church and reformed from within. I naively didn’t know if there was like a Joe Presbyter who nailed his “95 theses” to a wall somewhere.

Thank you all for your information!

 

[Tomyris]

I’m sorry but I would consider Fr. Martin Luther - a former priest who broke away from the Catholic Church - a revolutionary rather than a reformer as to one who stayed within the Catholic Church and reformed from within. I naively didn’t know if there was like a Joe Presbyter who nailed his “95 theses” to a wall somewhere.

Thank you all for your information!

Wow. That was fast. Seven posts and it has all the markings of becoming another Luther thread.

 

[ComplineSanFran]

I’m sorry but I would consider Fr. Martin Luther - a former priest who broke away from the Catholic Church - a revolutionary rather than a reformer as to one who stayed within the Catholic Church and reformed from within. I naively didn’t know if there was like a Joe Presbyter who nailed his “95 theses” to a wall somewhere.

Thank you all for your information!

The answer is no.

As to your word usage, history and the Church hold a different view.

 

[Wannabe_Monk_16]

The answer is no.

As to your word usage, history and the Church hold a different view.

Ok. Thank you for your information. A coworker described the origin of Presbyterian very differently (something like the Catholic Church didn’t allow the Church of Ireland to keep their Celtic traditions in their worship - I was really confused), but she described herself as non-practicing Presbyterian so I figured I would ask around here. I’m really interested in the origins of the different Protestant denominations and their reasons for splitting with the Catholic Church.

Thanks again and God bless!