John Knox 500
This year we mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Knox (c. 1514 - 1572), the Scottish reformer whose life and work have had a profound impact on the Presbyterian tradition. This page provides resources for learning more about John Knox's legacy, as well as ideas for commemorating John Knox on October 26, 2014, the Sunday before Reformation Day (Oct. 31).
Download John Knox's Liturgy, 1564.
Find suggested Confessions of Faith from the Scots Confession.
Read an essay on John Knox and Prayer.
John Knox: A Fierce and Fiery Reformer
Charles A. Wiley III
Something happened in the middle of the twentieth century: a revival of the work and influence of John Calvin. This has been a good thing for our church. But this great emphasis on Calvin has obscured a bit the vital role that John Knox played in the forming of our tradition.
While the major source of our Reformed tradition is found in the Swiss Reformation of Zwingli and Calvin, our American Presbyterian tradition is rooted in the English, and even more so in the Scottish Presbyterianism in which John Knox was the most important actor.
Knox’s early Reformation efforts were rewarded with being forced to row as a galley slave in a French ship. It is unclear how he was released, but he eventually served in exile as a chaplain in the Church of England and helped influence the text of the Book of Common Prayer. But when Mary came to the throne and re-instituted the Roman Catholic faith, Knox fled to Geneva where he became a confidant of John Calvin and became the pastor of the English-speaking congregation there. Inspired by Calvin’s theological and ecclesiastical vision, Knox returned to Scotland and helped to lead the revolution that led to the ousting of Mary of Guise and the reformation of the Church of Scotland.
Knox’s legacy to us has many dimensions:
- a fierce commitment to the reformation of the church;
- a deep commitment to the sovereignty of God that doesn’t allow anyone to take up the mantle of God, whether king or queen in the state or the bishop in the church;
- our enduring commitment to the parity of ministers and elders continues to mark us; and
- the practice of fervent prayer as a means to intimacy of God, and of strict self-examination before coming to the Lord’s table.
Although the roots of American Presbyterianism come from a number of directions, and are growing more complex over time, the single strongest root is the result of the migration of generations of Scottish and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians that formed the backbone of American Presbyterianism and continues to shape us.
Knox was a fiery, combative man, a combativism that you can feel when reading the Scots Confession. Sometimes that combative character makes contemporary Presbyterians a little nervous. But one cannot deny the profound influence of Knox on our church.
Rev. Charles A. Wiley III, Ph.D., is coordinator of the Office of Theology and Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Recommended Reading
Richard G. Kyle and Dale W. Johnson, John Knox: An Introduction to His Life and Works (Wipf & Stock, 2009)
Suzanne McDonald, John Knox for Armchair Theologians (Westminster John Knox Press, 2013)
Rosalind K. Marshall, John Knox (Birlinn, 2000)
Roger A. Mason, John Knox and the British Reformations (Ashgate, 1998)
W. Stanford Reid, Trumpeter of God: A Biography of John Knox (Scribner, 1974)
Jasper Ridley, John Knox (Oxford University Press, 1968)
