A Layman's Guide to the Scottish Reformation relates the story of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland and the subsequent trials and tribulations of the nascent Presbyterian Church. Covering the period from about 1530 to 1690 it is one of the busiest periods in Scottish and English history ranging across the reigns of Mary Queen of Scots and the Stuart Kings, James VI/I, Charles I, Charles II and James II. For added spice there are the complications of the Wars of the three kingdoms, rebellion in Ireland, and Cromwell's republican rule of the Commonwealth. Through this heady cocktail of events runs the story of the Presbyterian Kirk, the battle against the Divine Right policies of the Kings' and their demands for uniformity with the Episcopalian Church of England; and, the stubborn dissent and bloody persecution of the Covenanters in their stand for religious freedom. The Guide is the sister work to the author's first book As God is my Witness (Heritage Books Inc, 2002) which told the story of the people of the Reformation. The Guide deals with the events of the Reformation and is very widely referenced to many early works by clerical historians that are mainly now in archives and antiquarian collections. A very substantial and detailed Time Line provides a consecutive record of events. The bulk of the work is in a dictionary format of augmented notes on several hundred topics ranging from the 'Aberdeen Assembly, 1605' to 'Zeal - defence of Presbyterianism.' A substantial Glossary is provided along with a Dramatis Personae of the main character of the Reformation. Lavishly illustrated, it also has a lengthy bibliography as a source for further reading, and some 24 appendices (primarily text) of rare documents relevant to the early history of Presbyterianism.
