<P> 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 Scotsman and a Roman Catholic Priest , who studied with Calvin in Geneva , Switzerland . He brought back Reformed teachings to Scotland . The Presbyterian church traces its ancestry back primarily to England and 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 presbyteries . </P>
<P> 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 Scotsman and a Roman Catholic Priest , who studied with Calvin in Geneva , Switzerland . He brought back Reformed teachings to Scotland . The Presbyterian church traces its ancestry back primarily to England and 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 presbyteries . </P>
who was the founder of the presbyterian church
who was the founder of the presbyterian church
John Knox
John Knox