Books of Discipline

views updated

Books of Discipline, 1560, 1578. Both works expounded an ideal never fully realized. The First Book of Discipline (1560) was largely the work of the uncompromising Calvinist John Knox, a blueprint for the government of the reformed church in Scotland. It was heavily dependent upon the Ordinances of Calvin's church in Geneva, with which Knox was personally acquainted. The book's implementation was, however, opposed by many of the Scottish nobility. Knox died in 1572 and three years later Andrew Melville, principal of Glasgow University, began drawing up a Second Book of Discipline, intended to purge the Scottish church of the last vestiges of episcopal government.

Revd Dr John R. Guy

More From encyclopedia.com