What did the Church ever do for us? Addressing this question which is often thrown in the face of theologians, Johnston McKay unearths a practical social theology of the Church in Scotland in the century from 1820. It has been widely believed that the Church was largely mute on the widespread poverty and deprivation which accompanied the rapid expanse of urban life in Scotland. This study asserts - through the example of (among others) theologians Robert Flint and the parish minister Frederick Lockhart Robertson - that the Church was not lacking in commitment to improving such conditions. Flint's publication of Christ's Kingdom upon Earth led the Church of Scotland in Glasgow to investigate slum housing conditions and led to the idea that religion could not be complacent about the need for social action. Johnston McKay is a writer, broadcaster, theologian, lecturer and Church of Scotland minister. For nearly ten years he presented the popular weekly programme Personal Touch on Radio Scotland. He has written extensively on Scottish theological history and is the author of Glimpses of Hope (2002) and This Small Pool (1998).

Acknowledgements; 1. Signs and Signals - The Stirrings of Social Criticism; 2. From Church to Kingdom - Robert Flint's new model; 3. The Church and Housing - Flint's social theology in practice; 4. The Parting of the Ways - Social Theology in the United Free Church; 5. The Clash of Opposites - The Kingdom of God in Debate; 6. Full Circle - Social Criticism in the Inter-War Years.