ABSTRACT
Warfare had threatened the very fabric of Scottish Protestantism. The war tore through parish churches, prevented the correct maintenance others and affected parochial services for thousands of ordinary Scots. In terms of parochial religious practice, the Kirk obtained a significant degree of lay concurrence in exchange for a popular and active dialogue with their communities. The degree of lay involvement and integration into local life that the Kirk of Scotland had achieved by the mid-seventeenth century contrasts with presentations of English Presbyterianism as a largely oppositional movement. The different historical context of Scotland allows an insight into Presbyterianism at its parish roots. Parish authorities, armed with local knowledge, actively negotiated orders for disciplinary procedures and used their pulpits as a space to vent political opinion, as well as spiritual nourishment. The Kirk's institutional variability strengthened it and underlined its ability to appeal to the widest audience possible.
