The Kirk and the Kingdom: A century of tension in Scottish Social Theology 1830-1929

What did the Church ever do for us? Johnston McKay unearths a practical social theology of the church in Scotland in the century from 1820. It has been widely believed that the church was largely mute on the widespread poverty and deprivation which accompanied the rapid expanse of urban life. This study asserts that the church was not lacking in commitment to improving such conditions, through the example of theologians Robert Flint and the parish minister Frederick Lockhart Robertson. Flint’s publication of Christ’s Kingdom upon Earth led the Church of Scotland in Glasgow to investigate slum housing conditions and led to the idea that religion could not be complacent about the need for social action.