The Westminster Confession and Shorter Catechism: "What Is the Chief End of Man?"

Each major claim carries one of three labels. established means supported by primary records, official bodies or several independent reliable sources. shared means the core fact is sound but sources disagree on details, dates or interpretation. traditional means widely repeated but not traceable to a primary or independent source.

The text and adoption of the documents are well documented. Claims about their effect on Scottish character are interpretive and are labelled accordingly.

The Westminster Assembly

established In 1643, during the English Civil War, the English Parliament called an assembly of clergy to Westminster to reform the Church of England. In return for Scottish military help, Parliament signed the Solemn League and Covenant, which aimed at religious uniformity across the three kingdoms on Presbyterian lines. Scottish commissioners, including Alexander Henderson, Samuel Rutherford, George Gillespie and Robert Baillie, attended the Assembly and had considerable influence, though they could not vote.

The documents

established The Assembly produced the Westminster Confession of Faith, completed in 1646, a systematic statement of Reformed (Calvinist) theology in 33 chapters covering scripture, God's decrees, salvation, the church, the sacraments and civil government. It also produced the Larger Catechism, for preaching, and the Shorter Catechism, for teaching, with 107 questions and answers.

Adopted in Scotland

established The Church of Scotland's General Assembly approved the Confession in August 1647 and the catechisms in 1648, and the Scottish Parliament ratified the Confession in 1649. In England, Parliament never fully adopted the Westminster standards, and after the Restoration of 1660 the Church of England returned to bishops and the Book of Common Prayer. In Scotland, after decades of conflict, the Revolution settlement of 1690 again ratified the Confession and established Presbyterianism.

"The chief end of man"

established The Shorter Catechism opens: "What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever." For three centuries, children learned it by heart at home, in church and in school, and ministers examined families on it.

shared Many writers have argued that the Catechism shaped Scottish habits of mind, encouraging literacy, argument and moral seriousness. Others have seen in it a source of the rigid, guilt-ridden religion associated with Scottish Calvinism. Both views are interpretations.

Today

established Over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Presbyterian churches relaxed the obligation on ministers to accept every part of the Confession, particularly its teaching on predestination. In the Church of Scotland it remains the "subordinate standard", subordinate to scripture, with ministers allowed liberty of opinion on points that do not enter into the substance of the faith. Smaller Presbyterian churches, such as the Free Church and Free Presbyterian Church, hold to it closely. It is used by Presbyterian churches around the world.

Westminster worship in practice

The historian Stewart J. Brown notes that the Westminster Assembly (1643–47) produced a Directory of Worship as well as the Confession. It prescribed simple, austere services centred on the sermon, Bible readings and psalm-singing; required baptisms and marriages to take place before the congregation; and disallowed funeral services and prayers at the graveside, since these might suggest that prayer could change the fate of the dead, which the Confession taught was predestined. Neither document was ever adopted by the English Parliament, but the General Assembly adopted both in 1647 and the Scottish Parliament in 1649.

Brown adds that the 1690 settlement restored the Confession as the standard of faith without renewing the Covenants or referring to God's will, a silence that troubled committed Presbyterians. He also notes the argument, made by Gordon Marshall following Max Weber, that the self-discipline and sense of vocation instilled by Westminster Calvinism helped shape a Scottish "spirit of capitalism" visible by the late seventeenth century.

• The Westminster Directory of Worship forbade prayers at the graveside.
• The Westminster Confession was drawn up in England but adopted fully in Scotland.
• Scottish commissioners attended but could not vote.
• The Shorter Catechism has 107 questions.
• Its first answer is "to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever".
• It is still the subordinate standard of the Church of Scotland.

• Myth: the Westminster Confession and Shorter Catechism were written in Scotland. They were drawn up at Westminster in the 1640s by an assembly called by the English Parliament. Scottish commissioners, including Henderson, Rutherford, Gillespie and Baillie, took part but could not vote. Scotland adopted the documents fully, while England abandoned them.
• Disputed: what the Catechism did to Scottish character. Many writers argue that it encouraged literacy, argument and moral seriousness, while others see in it a source of rigid, guilt-ridden religion. Both views are interpretations.
• Disputed: whether Westminster Calvinism shaped a Scottish "spirit of capitalism". Gordon Marshall, following Max Weber, argues that its self-discipline and sense of vocation did so by the late seventeenth century. This is an argument, not an established finding.