Mr Simson's Knotty Case: Divinity, Politics, and Due Process in Early 18th-Century Scotland

Anthony MacKenzie is an associate professor of history at St. Francis
Xavier University.

The “Knotty Case” deals with a controversy in the Presbyterian
Church in Scotland in the 18th century. Politics, academic freedom, and
the economic well-being of Glasgow merchants all enter into the affair.

John Simson, a professor of divinity at the University of Glasgow,
tried to create in Presbyterian Scotland “a more hospitable
environment for new ideas and wider philosophical deliberations.”
Although accused of heresy, dogged by poor health, and suspended from
teaching, in the long run he helped to bring about a reasonable,
moderate, innovative Presbyterian Scotland.

He took quite a risk. Only a few years before Simson’s time, an
Edinburgh student, Thomas Aikenhead, was hanged as a blasphemer because
he preached a “skeptical philosophy” involving free theological
discussion. Such freedom horrified old-line covenanting Presbyterians.
Simson was suspended from his teaching position (interesting to note
that he was accused of teaching that women have no souls, a rather
extreme opinion even then). He lived in relative obscurity in the last
decade of his life; his ideas, however, survived.

In a glossary, Anne Skoczylas explains most of the intimidating
expressions used in the book (Amyrauldism, Sabellianism, Socinianism,
and the like), although not Argathelianism, which I think means the Duke
of Argyll’s party.

The author’s writing skills and knowledge of her subject have
combined to produce a commendable, very interesting book, not the dry,
boring, long-winded treatise it might have been. It proves that the
Presbyterian Scots, like the Irish, are at peace only when they’re
fighting.