John Knox at the Window

In the autumn of 1555, John Knox knelt by a window in Edinburgh, his forehead pressed against cold stone, and prayed words that those outside could hear through the glass. "Give me Scotland, or I die." He was not being dramatic. Scotland was tearing itself apart — corruption had hollowed out the church, political violence stained the streets, and Knox himself had spent nineteen months chained to an oar as a galley slave.…