New Fasti released

VOLUME XII of Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae has been recently published.

In this context the Latin word Fasti refers to a List or Register of Officials.

Volume 1 edited by Hew Scott and covering the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, was published in 1866 ‘to present a comprehensive account of the succession of ministers of the Church of Scotland from the period of the Reformation’. Over the next few years the coverage was extended to include the whole of Scotland, and these initial volumes were followed by updated listings published every 20/25 years.

I had the privilege of editing Volume XI marking the millennium, and now the Church’s gratitude is expressed to Roy Pinkerton, editor of the latest Volume XII. Roy is a retired academic who lectured in Classics at Edinburgh University. He is an elder at Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh and for many years has been involved in the preparation of the verbatim records of successive General Assemblies. He is a man who knows how to give attention to detail.

Over the past two years I have been privileged to serve on a small advisory committee supporting Roy in his role. Others included the Depute Clerk of Assembly, the Solicitor of the Church and the Editor of the Year Book. On being invited to write this article I found myself reflecting on some Fasti family connections, though there is not a little irony in this. Due to changed data protection laws Volume XII will be the first not to include details of ministerial spouses and children.

Roy’s editorial role has been ably supported by Alison Murray, an elder at Linlithgow: St Michael’s and PA to the Moderator from 2001 and 2017. Previously Alison was Secretary to Glasgow University’s Chaplaincy team and, before that Church Secretary at Jordanhill Parish Church where I was minister from 1977 to 1996.

After agreeing to take on the editorship of Volume XI my first port of call was to Dr Andrew Herron, by then retired Clerk to the Presbytery of Glasgow. I had heard that Dr Herron had been diligently maintaining his own ministerial records since the publication of Vol X, drawing on the monthly Life and Work parish changes.

My information was good and on visiting Dr Herron I was presented with a set of Amstrad floppy disks with the precious data. These Alison converted into the digital format of the day and the preparation of Volume XI was off to a flying start.

By then I had been appointed Principal Clerk and was looking for an editorial assistant to focus on the detailed task in hand. Enquiries led to Monica Stewart who, following graduation from St Andrews was undertaking a Pastoral Studies course at New College before joining the Chaplaincy team at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

Based part-time in 121 Monica sent out Fasti forms to every minister, liaising with presbytery clerks, chasing up non-replies and diligently recording the details for publication. Monica herself has strongministerial connections being the daughter of the Rev Robin Stewart and granddaughter of Professor James S Stewart, Moderator of the General Assembly of 1963 and Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at New College.

Going back a little further we come to Volume X, published in 1975. This was edited by the Rev Donald Macdonald, Principal Clerk from 1972-85. Donald (invariably referred to as ‘Donnie’) lived in Lanarkshire, but during the week lodged in Edinburgh where of an evening he would work on the embryo Fasti Volume X. At the time Iain Torrance, newly graduated DPhil from Oxford and before being inducted to the Shetland charge of Hillswick, spent several months assisting the Principal Clerk, sending out the draft biographies to ministers, checking the corrected texts as they came in and then reading the proofs. Iain’s father was Thomas Torrance, Professor of Christian Dogmatics at New College Edinburgh and Moderator of the 1976 General Assembly; and Iain himself went on to become Professor of Patristics and Christian Ethics at the University of Aberdeen, Moderator of the 2003 General Assembly and President of Princeton Theological Seminary.

While today’s Fasti provides a listing of the ministry by presbyteries, congregations and related appointments, one thing it doesn’t offer is comment on these ministries. It was not always so.

Following a dispute over two ministers as to which should be called to a mid-18th century Fife congregation the Fasti of the day noted that the successful candidate ‘was an admirable parish minister, a good preacher and scholar of repute’. Meanwhile the unsuccessful candidate, who had the popular support of a significant number of parishioners, was described as ‘a quarrelsome man who was never out of trouble’.

Volume XII focusses on fact rather than comment but it remains a good read, providing a reliable source of information on the ministers and congregations of the Church of Scotland from the millennium to the present day. I warmly commend it to the Church.