This book of eleven essays, along with Introduction (the editors) and Afterword (Professor Emerita Jane Dawson), is about the process of building up a new Reformed Kirk, legislated into existence in 1560, and how it adapted itself to varied contexts under the leadership of a differentiated cohort of ministers—but also how a common Reformed culture permeated most of the country.

The book is divided into two sections. Part 1 discusses Themes, while the second part is devoted to Case Studies. In Part 1, we are presented with the clergy and their characteristics. The Bible played the central role in defining the clergy. They read it daily and studied it assiduously. There was, of course, no historical-critical methodology in their reading and public exposition. Rather, they used a “doctrinal method of preaching” (Russell Newton, 42), and they interpreted the Bible Christologically, thus binding the Old and New Testaments together through the use of typology.

Janay Nugent and Rae Stauffer explore the Reformed family. The Bible imposed a strict code of conduct on the minister, which he expected of the entire household. But ministers were busy men and sometimes taken away from home and hearth, and their wives had to fill in. So the choice of mates was of utmost importance to the good functioning of the manse. According to John McCallum and Helen Gair, another definitive aspect of the pastoral calling was the distribution of poor relief. Kirk sessions might ask ministers to stir up the parish's generosity, and ministers were themselves generous in poor relief.

Chris Langley provides “the first focused assessment of anticlericalism in early modern Scotland” (91). Not that there was an organized ideology as in revolutionary France or Russia, but anticlericalism manifested itself as occasional outbursts of hostility: “Those clashes between laity and minister that did occur were usually driven by day-to-day concerns rather than an outright rejection of the concept of ministry altogether” (105).

In Part 2, we read that the early Reformers were clergy in search of legitimate and legalized congregations. In fact, there was nothing like a centralized leadership until 1557 when a group of Protestant nobles signed the First Band of the Lords of the Congregation. Before that time, Luther's ideas were mainly confined to the universities. The early process of gradual reform of the Kirk radiating outward came to fruition when, in August 1560, Parliament legislated that henceforth Scotland would be a Protestant realm without Pope or Mass but with preaching the Word and the institution of two sacraments according to Reformed thinking, thereby providing the definition of a Reformed minister in Scotland.

It should not be imagined that the formal commitment of Scotland to the Reformed faith meant that all was thereafter smooth sailing. There were debates over polity, and different groups had varied agendas. St. Andrews became a lightning rod for disagreements that would eventually reach the King's ears. At the center of controversy was David Black, later joined by his colleague Robert Wallace. The provost and his supporters opposed the appointment of Wallace, and soon the town's administration was drawn in. Black became even more wide-ranging in his criticisms, bringing in the King's late mother, Mary Queen of Scots. But who had authority over preachers—ecclesiastical or political interests?

The “Orkney archipelago” is likewise brought under an historian's scrutiny. The islands had belonged to Scotland since 1468 but were not yet acculturated, with Norn the language of many residents. This, along with archipelagic geography of numerous inhabited islands (more than twenty) provided great challenges to those sent to minister there who would likely make their careers in the islands. Distance from the centers of authority ensured “a considerable degree of local decision-making ” (Peter Marshall, 169).

Claire McNulty explores the relatively brief pastoral career (1639–1645) of James Sharpe in Leith, Edinburgh's port. At the outset, there was conflict between bailies (civil) and session (ecclesiastical) over the appointment of the second minister in the parish of South Leith. Sharpe insisted that the bailies had no jurisdiction in the matter. He imposed a strict moral regime, going after swearers and blasphemers on the one hand and fornicators on the other. The Kirk “depended on ‘lesser’ ministers, such as Sharpe, to translate these [national] ideals of discipline into a local and practical reality” (184–185).

John Dury (c. 1600–1680) was an indefatigable ecclesiastical diplomat in north-western Europe trying to effect concord between Protestant factions. Felicity Lyn Maxwell's essay focuses on his courtship of the woman whom he eventually married, as studied through manuscript letters. The author also focuses on Dury's dual confessional loyalties—Kirk of Scotland (presbyterian) and Church of England (episcopalian and liturgical)—and how his Reformed proclivities led to conflict with his congregation in Rotterdam: “Thus even on the small scale of single congregations, his efforts at ecumenical negotiation were typically unsuccessful” (204).

Of all the essays in this collection, Nathan Hood's study of emotion in the published works of Hugh Binning, precocious and short-lived (1627–1653) minister at Glasgow, is the most theologically and philosophically aware, ranging from Aristotle to Augustine to Aquinas. Hood concurs with recent scholarship that foregrounds emotional piety in Scottish Reformed piety but warns about overlooking “the individualism and idiosyncratic emotional experiences of Scottish presbyterians, including ministers” (209). Binning, with others of his time, believed that the emotions had to be moderated, in his thought, by charity.

The book is a significant contribution to our understanding of early modern Scottish religious culture. The essays are original and should promote further investigation into varieties of piety and practice. Scottish Reformed religion was not monolithic, an observation which is at the heart of the book. But the same book also demonstrates that there was a Reformed culture that permeated manses and parishes, and it is this divergence that needs to be further explicated.