Scottish Gods

Describes and explains over a century of religious change in Scotland, from the largely devout Presbyterian country of 1900, to the diverse, more secular society of today. Steve Bruce bases his study on a career’s worth of historical, ethnographic and statistical research.

Whilst the author’s arguments on sectarianism should be familiar to any well-informed reader, the originality of this book lies in melding such material with the breadth of the historical perspective and the range of topics. This gives a very original mix, from sectarianism to shamanism, from the Auld Licht Anti-Burghers to Findhorn’s fairies . . . this book represents ‘the latest word’ in the critical study of religion in Scotland.

Steve Bruce was born in Edinburgh and educated at the Queen Victoria School, Dunblane. He studied sociology and religious studies at the University of Stirling. He taught at The Queen’s University, Belfast, from 1978 to 1991 when he became Professor of Sociology at the University of Aberdeen. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.