SOMMARIO: 1. Prologo. Le origini della Secular Age – 2. I princìpi fondamentali della Chiesa di Scozia: la Professione di Fede e i Catechisms – 3. Il legame fra il mondo accademico e quello ecclesiastico – 4. La macchina processuale (ecclesiastica) e il Right of Patronage – 5. L’influenza del giusnaturalismo razionalista sulla dottrina teologica cristiana - 6. Lo sguardo scettico del bon David – 7. Epilogo. La progressiva secolarizzazione dello Scottish Enlightenment.

ABSTRACT: Between the late XVII century and the second half of the XVIII century Scotland faced very important constitutional changes, involving the relationships between the State and the Churches. In this context, the "religious question" continued to play a crucial role, finding its place – as so often in the past – at the top of the political agenda. However, this agenda was also influenced by the intellectual movement called Scottish Enlightenment, which gave an important contribution to the evolution of the Scottish Established Church that was Calvinist in its official documents, but Presbyterian in the ecclesiastical order. After general considerations about the process of secularization (which spread out in Europe at that time) the author analyses the peculiar evolution of relationships between the Scottish Established Church and the Scottish Enlightenment, which also affected the constitutional system in this country.