Beyond the Noise of Solemn Assemblies: The Protestant Ethic and the Quest for Social Justice in Canada (Volume 2)

by Richard Allen

Since the 1970s Richard Allen's scholarship on the social gospel has broken new ground in the field of Canadian social and religious history by recovering key aspects of the tradition and its contribution to reform movements and politics. Beyond the Noise of Solemn Assemblies collects and extends many of his classic works to present a comprehensive overview of a major thread in the fabric of the country. Observing the mutual foundations of political and religious traditions in myth and arguing that the sacred and the secular belong together in discussions of public affairs, Allen contests the view that religion is personal and isolated from the public square. He discusses a range of the transition from providential to progressive thought in nineteenth-century Canada; the new spirituality of social solidarity articulated by Winnipeg college students in the 1890s; the role of the social gospel in pioneering urban reform; farmers and workers finding in radical Christianity legitimation for political revolt; Christian intellectuals in the 1930s framing a revolutionary prospectus for Depression-era Canada; the significance of Norman Bethune's religious upbringing for his life and work; strategically focused post-war ecumenical coalitions like Project North and the Latin American Working Group; and the prospects for democratic socialism at the end of the Cold War. Opening with a chapter relating the author's upbringing in a ministerial household dedicated to the Protestant ethic as the spirit of socialism, Beyond the Noise of Solemn Assemblies represents a significant contribution to understanding the social Christian movement in Canada.

424 pages, Hardcover

Published January 15, 2019

About the author

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Reviews

[Dasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate this collection for bringing together Allen’s lifetime of research on the Christian Left into one book. He details Protestant social movements and their relationship to secular political and legal changes in Canada. Moreover, the book is deeply personal with Allen writing personal introductions for each chapter, as well as a full chapter dedicated to his childhood where the influence of his parents on his research becomes clear. Indeed, Allen presents a hopeful look at social change as spurred by the melding of Protestantism and secular institutions.