Early Presbyterianism in Canada (review)

This volume of John S. Moir's seminal essays on the history of the Presbyterian Church in Canada is testimony to his status as the pre-eminent historian of the Scottish Presbyterian experience in Canada. In an original introductory essay, 'The Writing of Canadian Presbyterian History,' Moir offers some reflections. Not surprisingly, he is very modest about his contribution to Presbyterian history. He was a member of an innovative generation of church historians who integrated church history with the political, social, and intellectual currents of Canadian national history. Moir and his contemporaries were the bridge between denominational church history, which was cloistered from the concerns of Canadian historiography, and the current emphasis on the social and cultural history of religious beliefs and practices. The current flowering of religious historiography in Canada, to an important extent, is built on the foundations established by John Moir. As a result, this volume of his essays, capably edited and briefly introduced by Paul Laverdure, allows the reader to focus on Moir's numerous insights into Presbyterianism.

The essays in this volume were not designed as a defence of the Presbyterian church or an apology of Presbyterian doctrine. Moir's explorations into Presbyterian history included numerous observations relating to the relations between church and state, Catholics and Protestants, and the French and English. Topics such as Scottish immigration, biblical studies, and temperance and social reform movements are also covered. He recognized that in Canada Presbyterianism was shaped by its Calvinist heritage, Scottish roots, Canadian national experience, and North American setting.

Highlights of this volume include 'Loyalties in Conflict,' an essay outlining the waxing and waning of the interplay of Scottish and American influences on the Canadian Presbyterian character and sense of identity. 'A National Vision' is a cogent study of a generation of Maritime Presbyterian leaders, including George Grant, Sir Robert Falconer, Daniel Miner Gordon, George Bryce, Arthur S. Morton, and Walter C. Murray, who had a remarkable impact on Canada's national development and the Presbyterian church. Perhaps of greatest value is Moir's clear and insightful exposition of the complicated church-state questions that have swirled around Canadian Presbyterian history. The intricacies of the Kirk and the Free Church position on state involvement in religious and church matters are explained in a trio of essays. Moir also extends his analysis to the period after the Second World War, when the Presbyterian church redefined its historic Free Church commitment to the principle that church and state must be mutually supportive but not have dominion over each other. In light of the issues emerging from the Second World War and the Cold War, especially the spectre of the atomic bomb, the Presbyterian Declaration of Faith Concerning Church and Nation, adopted by the General Assembly in 1955, asserted that the church should act as the conscience of the nation. Most analysis of the church-state question in Canada stops with the settlement of the Clergy Reserve question in the 1850s, but Moir's pioneering work demonstrates that much more research into this complicated issue is necessary. Readers are also treated to some of Moir's groundbreaking essays on the social history of Presbyterianism, such as 'The Stool of Repentance: The Disciplinary Role of the Presbyterian Courts of Session in Victorian Canada.' This essay provides a glimpse into the life of Presbyterian communicants beyond the pews and outside the church, but not away from the purview and discipline of the church elders.

These lucidly written essays clarify a host of issues surrounding Presbyterian history and therefore can profitably be consulted by anyone interested in church-state questions and the role and character of the Scottish Presbyterianism in Canadian society. For anyone interested in the historiography of the 'national school' of religious historians, this volume is indispensable. Along with Moir's essays in Christianity in Canada: Historical Essays (2002), also edited by Paul Laverdure, this collection demonstrates both the originality and enduring value of John S. Moir's fine historical scholarship.