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9780748699155

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This book is an important addition to the study of Scottish Presbyterianism and piety, with a close examination of church records that indicate the way in which administrative records not only give an account of the religious shaping of the nation, but lie at the heart of the Presbyterian identity that has marked the nation since the middle of the sixteenth century. -- Kenneth B. E. Roxburgh, Journal of Church and State

This book is an important addition to the study of Scottish Presbyterianism and piety, with a close examination of church records that indicate the way in which administrative records not only give an account of the religious shaping of the nation, but lie at the heart of the Presbyterian identity that has marked the nation since the middle of the sixteenth century. -- Kenneth B. E. Roxburgh, Journal of Church and State The author's prose is surprisingly light for the subject matter and it is obvious that, when it comes to the examination of presbytery records, he has done as much sorting and summarising as he can while still supporting his arguments with evidence. The text is also leavened by delightful anecdotes and surprising facts...The book closes with six appendices which offer readers opportunity to examine Mutch's collected data in greater detail. For specialists I suspect these annexes will be essential reading and a spur to further research. -- JAMES J. S. FOSTER, Scottish Historical Review Beautifully written... this is a book to be commended. -- Graeme Morton, Journal of Scottish Historical Studies

'In both Weber and Foucault, religious institutions and practices were vital to the emergence of capitalist modernity. Mutch supplements Weber's focus on belief with the routines of church administration: how theology was translated into everyday practices at the grassroots of specific parishes. The achievement of Religion and National Identity is that it does not attempt to read off individual identity or collective action from religious doctrine: the everyday workings of obscure Calvinists have much more to tell us than renowned theologians. This focus on the entanglements of practice, routine and belief provides an invaluable pointer towards how the historical imagination and organisation theory can enrich each other.' --Alan McKinlay Organization 'The author's prose is surprisingly light for the subject matter and it is obvious that, when it comes to the examination of presbytery records, he has done as much sorting and summarising as he can while still supporting his arguments with evidence. The text is also leavened by delightful anecdotes and surprising facts...The book closes with six appendices which offer readers opportunity to examine Mutch's collected data in greater detail. For specialists I suspect these annexes will be essential reading and a spur to further research.' --JAMES J. S. FOSTER Scottish Historical Review 'The richness of the records Mutch analyses is in itself proof of their significance in Scottish culture in the eighteenth century; and, in its focus on everyday practice, his book is an excellent corrective to popular conceptions of the eighteenth-century church in Scotland.' --Emma Macleod, University of Stirling Innes Review 'This book is an important addition to the study of Scottish Presbyterianism and piety, with a close examination of church records that indicate the way in which administrative records not only give an account of the religious shaping of the nation, but lie at the heart of the Presbyterian identity that has marked the nation since the middle of the sixteenth century.' --Kenneth B. E. Roxburgh Journal of Church and State Overall, this is a valuable book and will be beneficial to future scholars of religious practice in Scotland. Mutch should be commended for his meticulous research and his insights on presbyterial business and finance provide afresh account of how daily church government operated in Scotland. ...Mutch's insights on systematic accountability provide a new approach on how the experience of religious authority should be studied in Scotland. --Ben Rogers, University College Dublin Scottish Church History 'Beautifully written... this is a book to be commended.' --Graeme Morton Journal of Scottish Historical Studies

This book is an important addition to the study of Scottish Presbyterianism and piety, with a close examination of church records that indicate the way in which administrative records not only give an account of the religious shaping of the nation, but lie at the heart of the Presbyterian identity that has marked the nation since the middle of the sixteenth century. -- Kenneth B. E. Roxburgh, Journal of Church and State The author's prose is surprisingly light for the subject matter and it is obvious that, when it comes to the examination of presbytery records, he has done as much sorting and summarising as he can while still supporting his arguments with evidence. The text is also leavened by delightful anecdotes and surprising facts...The book closes with six appendices which offer readers opportunity to examine Mutch's collected data in greater detail. For specialists I suspect these annexes will be essential reading and a spur to further research. -- JAMES J. S. FOSTER, Scottish Historical Review

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Alistair Mutch is Professor of Information & Learning at Nottingham Business School.

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