Faith and the family: Family life and the spread of evangelical culture in the Scottish Gàidhealtachd, c. 1790-c.1860

This examination of the Scottish Gàidhealtachd (Gaelic-speaking area) extends beyond protestant ideas about the gendered family to how people actually implemented spiritual practices at home. The results complicate earlier conclusions, showing that family worship undermined as well as reinforced the patriarchal family. The challenge to fathers’ authority came less from the influence of mothers than from children and non-family members who, through literacy, became better equipped than fathers for spiritual leadership. Examining family life shows how evangelicalism reshaped Gaelic culture while also exposing how this change was resisted.