Bishops in the Church of Scotland

There have not been bishops in the Church of Scotland since the Restoration Episcopacy of the 17th century, although there have occasionally been attempts to reintroduce episcopalianism.

Like most Reformed Churches, the Church of Scotland has a presbyterian structure which invests in a hierarchy of courts, the authority which other denominations give to bishops. Nevertheless, the Church of Scotland does have the concept of a bishop, and there has been debate about widening this concept.

The word bishop is derived from Greek episcopos, meaning "overseer". The word is used in the New Testament, but it is not certain what exactly the function of this office entailed in the Early Church. By the third century, however, both the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic) Church had a system of bishops as spiritual rulers.

After the Reformation, the Lutheran and Anglican traditions retained the episcopal system. The churches of the radical reformation, however, mostly rejected bishops, believing this concentration of power in the hands of a few individuals to be one of the causes of what they perceived as the corruption of the pre-Reformation Church. During the Scottish Reformation, the reformer John Knox initially wanted bishops in the Church of Scotland, but the transparency of the Presbyterian system, where all decisions are made in public meetings, was ultimately preferred.

During parts of the 17th century there were conflicts between the Presbyterian and Episcopalian tendencies in the Kirk (see Bishops' Wars), with Episcopalianism (patronised by the monarch) sometimes in the ascendancy. Presbyterianians finally gained the upper hand, leading to the establishment of a separate Episcopal Church of Scotland in 1690.

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