After the Disruption: The recovery of the national Church of Scotland, 1843–1874

In 1843, the established Church of Scotland was broken up by the Disruption, as nearly a third of the ministers and perhaps half the lay adherents left to form the new Free Church. Many predicted the ‘remnant’ established church would not long survive. This article explores the remarkable recovery of the Church of Scotland during the three decades after the Disruption, with emphasis on the church extension campaign and parish community ideal of James Robertson, the movement initiated by Robert Lee for the enrichment of public worship and ecclesiology, and the efforts, associated with Norman Macleod, John Tulloch, John Caird and Robert Flint, to provide greater theological freedom and openness to social and cultural progress, including a willingness to question the Reformed doctrinal standards of the Westminster Confession of Faith.