onsdag, september 10, 2008

The Covenanters, Missionskyrkan och civil olydnad

Jag är medlem i Missionskyrkan. Även då många församlingar är olydiga – hjälper flyktingar som gömmer sig och håller kurser i  ickevåld - så närmar sig de centrala organen total lydnad. Men nyss fick jag reda på att traditionen som Missionskyrkan kommer från växt fram ur civil olydnad. På engelska kallas flera av systerkyrkorna för Covenant Church vilka organiserade avancerade olydnadsaktioner på 1600-talet:


"... 1660 but the government's insistence on episcopal governance (ie; church government by the bishops) provoked civil disobedience that found expression in popular presbyterianism and the mass conventicles (open air meetings) of the Covenanters. There were moderate Episcopalians like Glasgow's Robert Leighton, archbishop 1671-1674, but Alexander Burnett, archbishop 1663-71 and 1674-1679 was more in tune with government policy and persecuted the religious dissenters. Many suffered during the "Killing Times". Covenanters James Nisbet, James Lawson and Alexander Wood were among those executed at Glasgow. Leading citizens were not immune: John Spreull (1646-1722), a prominent merchant, earned the nickname "Bass John" after being imprisoned and tortured on the Bass Rock."

http://www.theglasgowstory.com/story.php?id=TGSBH