“The cause of the protagonist's spiritual crisis in these novels originates in the unloving and unlovely severity of various forms of Presbyterianism. In A Son of the Soil, the Church of Scotland's harshly judgemental and emotionally sterile tendencies are displayed in parishioners' right right to object to 'sitting under' a minister who does not meet their approval. During a minister's probationary period the congregation can object 'to his looks, or his manners, or his doctrines, or the colour of his hair'.” MinistersJudgementalProbationChurch Of ScotlandPresbyterianismMrs Oliphant Book:The International Companion to Nineteenth-Century Scottish Literature Source: The International Companion to Nineteenth-Century Scottish Literature