Select Works

by David Clarkson

Select Works by David Clarkson examines early Christian governance and argues that episcopacy was organized around many small bishoprics rather than a few large metropolitan sees. The tract No Evidence for Diocesan Churches, opening this four-part volume, challenges claims of universal dioceses and popular bishop elections by citing patristic authorities and case studies from Africa, Crete, Britain, and elsewhere. Clarkson contends that where multiple bishops existed, it did not imply modern diocesan structures, and that large sees developed later for political reasons. The work surveys councils and canons—Carthage, Sardica, Chalcedon, Nicea—to show a trend toward limiting overgrown bishoprics, while emphasizing the bishop’s pastoral duties and accountability. This edition, a 1846 publication edited by Basil H. Cooper and John Blackburn, includes Clarkson’s biography, editorial framing, and the surrounding material on his life and context. Overall, the volume situates Clarkson within the Puritan critique of episcopacy and its defense of congregational and Presbyterian-leaning ecclesiology in opposition to diocesan models.

570 pages, Paperback

Published August 12, 2021