Chapter 2
The Unstoppable Spirit

When you think of a typical Presbyterian, the image of a harsh ascetic, disciplinarian seems at odds with Celtic largesse and love of song. But it was within the Celtic population that Presbyterianism developed, launched in Scotland by the Calvinist John Knox [1502-1572] in protest against the profiteering Catholic Church. By the late sixteenth century Scotland had been ‘saved’ by Calvinism. Knox was a zealous new broom that swept away Roman Catholic complacency, nepotism and greed. He had an especially powerful influence on the Scots of the southwest where Presbyterianism took hold, persuading them to connect with their individualism, to embrace education and to trust in Jesus, not their priest.