Resistance to Church Union in Canada, 1904-1939, The by N. Keith Cliffor

by N. K. Clifford

While individuals within the Methodist and Congregational Churches had doubts about Church Union, only among the Presbyterians did organized collective action against the union and the legislation that created the United Church of Canada develop. N. Keith Clifford documents the origins, growth and significance of the resistance which saw 150,000 Presbyterians refuse to join the new church. Past studies of the union concluded with its consummation in 1925. Viewing the controversy from the perspective of the 1939 amendment to the United Church of Canada Act, which finally accepted the Presbyterian claims on the identity and continuity of their church, alters the standard images of the parties in the conflict and demonstrates that there are two quite distinct ways of understanding the events and the actions based on them.

Hardcover

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Church fights are ugly. This one was. For someone who grew up under the mythology of the "winning" side, it was a helpful corrective, an illuminating insight into the particular era, and a warning about the hubris that is so easily branded as righteousness.

The details get onerous midway through, but I'm grateful I pressed on and benefitted from Clifford's attention, scholarship, and then brief reflection that concludes the book.