List of Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is a complete list of Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from the Reformation to the present day. The location of the parish or other post during the Moderator's year in office is listed in brackets.
Since 1714 the General Assembly has normally been held annually every May. Moderators-designate are nominated in the October of the previous year; a formal vote is taken at start of the General Assembly in May, then the new Moderator takes the chair. They holds office for one year; their final act is to formally open the following year's General Assembly and preside over the formal election of a successor.
The Moderator of the current year, while serving their term as Moderator, is styled "The Right Reverend", while past Moderators are styled "The Very Reverend". [1]
No General Assembly until 1638
No General Assembly after 1653 until the restoration of Presbyterianism in 1690. From 1662 to 1673 Walter Bruce of Inverkeithing was "Constant Moderator. [4] Patrick Sympson was Constant Moderator from an unknown date to Spring 1690. [5] Gabriel Cunningham acted as Interim Moderator in 1690 (as though there had been no gap) until Kennedie was chosen to succeed him.
The "Disruption" in the Church of Scotland took place in 1843, with approximately one-third of the ministers leaving to form the Free Church of Scotland. The Moderator in this critical year was Duncan Macfarlan (High Church of Glasgow)
The union of the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland occurred in 1929, the newly reunited church henceforth being known as the Church of Scotland.
The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on its west by the Dean Gallery. A 20th-century extension lies detached from the main cemetery to the north of Ravelston Terrace. The main cemetery is accessible through the main gate on its east side, through a "grace and favour" access door from the grounds of Dean Gallery and from Ravelston Terrace. The modern extension is only accessible at the junction of Dean Path and Queensferry Road.
Andrew Melville was a Scottish scholar, theologian, poet and religious reformer. His fame encouraged scholars from the European continent to study at Glasgow and St. Andrews.
William Laurence Brown was a Scottish minister.
David Welsh FRSE was a Scottish divine and academic. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1842. In the Disruption of 1843 he was one of the leading figures in the establishment of the Free Church of Scotland.
Alexander Arbuthnot (1538–1583) was a Scottish ecclesiastic poet, "an eminent divine, and zealous promoter of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland". He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in both 1573 and 1577.
Ronald William Vernon Selby WrightCVO TD JP FRSE FSAScot was a Church of Scotland minister. He became one of the best known Church of Scotland ministers of his generation and served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1972/73.
Iain Richard Torrance, is a retired Church of Scotland minister, theologian and academic. He is Pro-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, Honorary Professor of Early Christian Doctrine and Ethics at the University of Edinburgh, President and Professor of Patristics Emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary, and an Extra Chaplain to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Scotland. He was formerly Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dean of the Chapel Royal in Scotland, and Dean of the Order of the Thistle. He is married to Morag Ann, whom he met while they were students at the University of St Andrews, and they have two children.
Reverend Dr John Lee FRSE was a Scottish academic and polymath, the Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1840 to 1859. He was also a Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1844.
Cramond Kirk is a church situated in the middle area Cramond parish, in the north west of Edinburgh, Scotland. Built on the site of an old Roman fort, parts of the Cramond Kirk building date back to the fourteenth century and the church tower is considered to be the oldest part.
David Dickson (1583–1663) was a Church of Scotland minister and theologian.
John Strang (1584–1654) was a Scottish minister and Principal of Glasgow University. He was a signator to the National Covenant of 1638.
John McIntyre was a Scottish minister and theologian. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1982/83 and Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland from 1990 to 1996.
George Hill FRSE was a Minister of St Andrews. He was a joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1783 and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1789, but an active member for much longer, where he succeeded William Robertson as leader of the Moderates. He was Principal of St Mary's College, St Andrews as well as Dean of the Chapel Royal and Dean of the Order of the Thistle.
David Brown was a son of bookseller who was twice Provost of the city. He was a Free Church of Scotland minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly 1885/86. He was co-author of the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary on the whole Bible.
John Drysdale FRSE was twice Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, both in 1773 and in 1784. He was Dean of the Chapel Royal in Scotland 1766 to 1788, and Chaplain in Ordinary to George III. He was brother-in-law to Robert Adam and father-in-law to Andrew Dalzell.
Henry Grieve FRSE was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1783. He was a co-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in the same year. He was also one of the Deans in the Chapel Royal in Edinburgh and Chaplain in Ordinary to King George IV.
William Paterson Paterson FRSE DD LLD (1860–1939) was a Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland. He was professor of divinity at the University of Edinburgh from 1904 to 1934. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1919. He was central to the reunification of the United Free Church of Scotland with the Church of Scotland in 1929.
Donald Mackinnon Macalister (1832–1909) was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1902/03.
John Kennedy Cameron was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1910/11.
Andrew Duncan was a Latin scholar and Church of Scotland minister at Crail. He achieved notoriety for his presbyterian principles which brought him into conflict with James VI who wished to impose an episcopalian system. He attended the General Assembly of Aberdeen in 1605 which had been proscribed or prorogued by royal authority and was one of six ministers who were imprisoned and later exiled as a result. He was allowed to return after several years in France but was subsequently banished again following further controversy in failing to comply with the Five Articles of Perth. He died in exile in Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1626.