John Knox and the Reformation

John Knox and the Reformation

In this brief Life of Knox I have tried, as much as I may, to get behind Tradition, which has so deeply affected even modern histories of the Scottish Reformation, and even recent Biographies of the Reformer. The tradition is based, to a great extent, on Knoxs own History, which I am therefore obliged to criticise as carefully as I can. In his valuable John Knox, a Biography, Professor Hume Brown says that in the History we have convincing proof alike of the writers good faith, and of his perception of the conditions of historic truth. My reasons for dissenting from this favourable view will be found in the following pages. If I am right, if Knox, both as a politician and an historian, resembled Charles I. in sailing as near the wind as he could, the circumstance (as another of his biographers remarks) only makes him more human and interesting. Opinion about Knox and the religious Revolution in which he took so great a part, has passed through several variations in the last century. In the Edinburgh Review of 1816 (No. liii. pp. 163-180), is an article with which the present biographer can agree. Several passages from Knoxs works are cited, and the reader is expected to be shocked at their principles. They are certainly shocking, but they are not, as a rule, set before the public by biographers of the Reformer. Mr. Carlyle introduced a style of thinking about Knox which may be called platonically Puritan. Sweet enthusiasts glide swiftly over all in the Reformer that is specially distasteful to us. I find myself more in harmony with the outspoken Hallam, Dr. Joseph Robertson, David Hume, and the Edinburgh reviewer of 1816, than with several more recent students of Knox. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 14016
Author: Lang, Andrew
Release Date: Nov 10, 2004
Format: eBook
Language: English