Land, Faith and the Crofting Community, Christianity and Social Criticism in the Highlands of Scotland, 1843-1893, by Alan W MacColl, published by Edinburgh University Press, hardback, 248 pages, £45.00, but obtainable from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom for £35.00.
This book seeks to explore the influence of religion, especially Evangelical religion, on events in the crofting communities of the Highlands in the late nineteenth century. Other books written on what were, more or less, the Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland, give a competent account of secular aspects of the Clearances and associated events – a chapter in Scottish history marred by the heartlessness of many proprietors to people who had lived on their land for many generations. This volume, however, has the great advantage of being written by someone who has a clear understanding of Evangelical Calvinism; such knowledge is obviously needed when one of Scotland’s most prominent contemporary historians can state that Highlanders regarded Sabbath-keeping as a means “to atone for sin” (quoted p 61). One comes away from Dr MacColl’s work with the confidence that, not only has he written good secular history, but he has also given a reliable analysis of the religious factors in the thinking of the crofters and their leaders.
This was, after all, a period when most Scottish Highlanders subscribed to Evangelical Protestantism – witness, for instance, the high proportion of Highlanders who came out in the Disruption of 1843. And clearly their religion had a marked effect on their reactions to the difficulties which the crofting communities experienced during the period studied. This was the focus of the author’s research, and although it is presented here with academic rigour, the resulting book is commendably readable.
In the early part of the book, the author considers how religious beliefs, such as predestination, influenced reactions to the famines of the 1840s. He concludes that “the view which holds that Evangelical Calvinism engendered a fatalistic passivity and thereby helped facilitate the destruction of Gaelic society is one which has little foundation in historical evidence”. Particularly in relation to the agitation of the later nineteenth century, he demonstrates that “Evangelicals and other leading churchmen were determined to maintain law and order, and this message was largely, but not always entirely, accepted
by their congregations. In their encouraging of passivity before the forces of the state, they never wavered throughout the whole of the nineteenth century. What did change, however, was their increased willingness to criticise the existing arrangements of society. A major contention of the present work is that by providing the means whereby a critique of the status quo could be developed, Evangelical leaders significantly forwarded the defence of Highland community values.”
The Free Presbyterian era lies beyond the main scope of this book, but some comments on relevant issues are quoted from The Free Presbyterian Magazine and from elders such as John MacIver of Scoraig. Altogether, this is an important addition to the literature on the subject.