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Lamplighter and Son
Book by Skinner, Craig
269 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 30, 2020
The saga continues...
Solid historical research on the life of Thomas Spurgeon, one of CHS's twin sons. The bro Skinner literally travelled to three different continents to write the book, consulting a tonne of sources, and it shows. Skinner does an epic job of showing the impact of the Spurgeon family on what 20th century evangelicalism would become. I was pleasantly surprised by the extent of this impact, particularly in both America and good old New Zealand (!). This book tied up a lot of loose ends for me around the 1880s 'Downgrade' controversy, and showed that, at least among a few significant players (Dixon, Torrey etc.), Spurgeon's claim that history would vindicate him was right on the money. I had no clue that 'The Fundamentals' booklets had anything to do with the Spurgeons! Very cool. The book also has a mammoth photo section with 201 photos, showing key points of the story.
One small negative was the author's stylistic choice to make the first and last chapters read like a novel, while all the others read like a standard biography. He said in the author's afterword that he deliberately did this. To me it just made the book feel less cohesive than it could have. Each to their own I guess.
An essential read if you're into the Spurge. Given how good it was, I'm surprised that I had never heard of it until earlier this year when I came across it an a second hand store. It's due for a reprint I think.
Solid historical research on the life of Thomas Spurgeon, one of CHS's twin sons. The bro Skinner literally travelled to three different continents to write the book, consulting a tonne of sources, and it shows. Skinner does an epic job of showing the impact of the Spurgeon family on what 20th century evangelicalism would become. I was pleasantly surprised by the extent of this impact, particularly in both America and good old New Zealand (!). This book tied up a lot of loose ends for me around the 1880s 'Downgrade' controversy, and showed that, at least among a few significant players (Dixon, Torrey etc.), Spurgeon's claim that history would vindicate him was right on the money. I had no clue that 'The Fundamentals' booklets had anything to do with the Spurgeons! Very cool. The book also has a mammoth photo section with 201 photos, showing key points of the story.
One small negative was the author's stylistic choice to make the first and last chapters read like a novel, while all the others read like a standard biography. He said in the author's afterword that he deliberately did this. To me it just made the book feel less cohesive than it could have. Each to their own I guess.
An essential read if you're into the Spurge. Given how good it was, I'm surprised that I had never heard of it until earlier this year when I came across it an a second hand store. It's due for a reprint I think.
June 1, 2012
The book is meant to be a biography of the ministries of C. H. Spurgeon and his son Tom. However, I think the author would have been better off writing about one or the other, but not both, as this short book, in my opinion, doesn't do a fair job to either one.
This book was published in 1984 in the midst of the Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention, and the author was a professor at Golden Gate, but I suspect would have fallen into the "moderate" camp from the last chapter describing the issuing of The Fundamentals, and the impact the Spurgeons had on their issuance. He gives a poor description of fundamentalism, evangelicalism, and neoevangelicalism, and their differences.
The best biography is Spurgeon's own Autobiography.
This book was published in 1984 in the midst of the Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention, and the author was a professor at Golden Gate, but I suspect would have fallen into the "moderate" camp from the last chapter describing the issuing of The Fundamentals, and the impact the Spurgeons had on their issuance. He gives a poor description of fundamentalism, evangelicalism, and neoevangelicalism, and their differences.
The best biography is Spurgeon's own Autobiography.
January 3, 2011
A tremendous book about Thomas Spurgeon, son of the famous 19th century British preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and how he eventually became pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London after his fathers' death. If you like Spurgeon and have read a lot by and/or about him, don't miss this one.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews