Presbyterianism

===Development===
[[File:John Knox woodcut.jpg|thumb|[[John Knox]]|upright=0.9]]

Presbyterian history is part of the [[history of Christianity]], but the beginning of Presbyterianism as a distinct movement occurred during the 16th-century [[Protestant Reformation]]. As the [[Catholic Church]] resisted the Reformers, several different theological movements splintered from the Church and bore different denominations.

Presbyterianism was especially influenced by the French theologian [[John Calvin]], who is credited with the development of [[Reformed theology]], and the work of [[John Knox]], a Scottish Catholic Priest who studied with Calvin in Geneva and brought back Reformed teachings to Scotland. An important influence on the formation of presbyterianism in Britain also came from [[Jan Łaski|John a Lasco]], a Polish reformer, the founder of a [[Stranger churches|Stranger's Church]] in London, based on the Geneva models.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kang |first=Min |title=John Calvin and John a Lasco on Church Order |year=2011 |pages=6, 44}}</ref>

The Presbyterian church traces its ancestry back primarily to Scotland. In August 1560, the [[Parliament of Scotland]] adopted the ''[[Scots Confession]]'' as the creed of the Scottish Kingdom. In December 1560, the ''[[First Book of Discipline]]'' was published, outlining important doctrinal issues but also establishing regulations for church government, including the creation of ten ecclesiastical districts with appointed superintendents which later became known as [[Presbytery (church polity)|presbyteries]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Established Church of Scotland|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13627a.htm|encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia|access-date=26 September 2010|archive-date=20 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120000221/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13627a.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In time, the Scots Confession would be supplanted by the [[Westminster Confession of Faith]], and the [[Westminster Larger Catechism|larger]] and [[Westminster Shorter Catechism|shorter catechisms]], which were formulated by the [[Westminster Assembly]] between 1643 and 1649.