John Knox

This Scottish reformer was born around 1505 – 1515 and is often referred to as the father of Presbyterianism.

He attended the University of St Andrews to study grammar. A man named John Major was his mentor, who taught him a lot about the reformed view of the time. Those views were very dangerous to hold, especially since the queen of the time was a staunch Catholic. Even though he preached about Protestantism loudly, Queen Mary of the Scotts feared him saying, “I fear the prayers of John Knox, more than all the assembled armies of Europe”.

He rejected the Catholic mass and the idea of purgatory and welcomed the fact of salvation by faith alone, Sola Fide. He tried hard to avoid arrest since he likened the pope to the antichrist and that made him a target. During his time preaching at the church in St Andrews, the castle of St Andrews was attacked and captured by the French, and he was set as a slave in the galley of a ship and ordered to row all day without changing posture. He was kept in this prison for 19 months and his health weakened. While working on that ship, he looked out and saw where he once preached and told the man beside him that he would not die until he preached there once again.

When he was released, he moved to England, where it was much safer to be protestant since it was during the reign of Edward VI, though he was not able to stay very long and had to flee from there again once King Edward VI died and Bloody Mary became queen. He left with his new wife, to Geneva, Switzerland. It was there that he met John Calvin, and wrote a pamphlet on all three Marys. Mary I [Bloody Mary], Mary of Guise, and Mary Queen of Scotts. He stated that the roles of women in leadership were unbiblical. He settled in Geneva for a while before returning to his home in Scotland once Mary I died and her protestant sister was crowned. He preached there once again, and it was a great time for the reformation, though there were civil wars from people who wanted to keep the religion Catholic. John Knox lived for the rest of his life in Edinburg. He did a great deal to bring the Reformation to Scotland. But was very harsh in his beliefs. It was either God or the Devil. He would not trade with Catholics and would disassociate himself from any Catholics. Many protestants did not believe quite the same as him and held the society together through tolerance.

Advertisement