Canadian Protestant Experience, 1760-1990

The Reverend Dr. A.J. Pell is rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral in the
Diocese of New Westminster, British Columbia.

This book’s title is important. This work is not a chronological
history, reciting dates and events and people (which is indeed
important, but can be obtained elsewhere). Rather, it is a social
history; it explores what people, institutions, and society experienced
during the 230-year period that formed Canadian society and the
protestant churches of Canada. Rawlyk, of Queen’s University’s
History Department, asked each contributing historian to write on a
specific era in a way “that recognized the interplay of individuals
and social movements” in the evolution of Canadian Protestant life.

This is a collection of five major essays, each by a competent Canadian
religious historian, and each looking at a specific era: 1760–1815,
1815–1867, 1867–1914, 1914–1945, and 1945–1990. Each author
weaves together themes, trends, and personalities to create the feel of
the era for Protestant Christians in Canada and, through them, for the
wider society. The interrelationships of Protestant concerns and
political life becomes clear: the tension between traditions and
emerging expressions of faith is enunciated.

The work’s most urgently felt weakness is its lack of
footnotes/endnotes. However, this fault is substantially redeemed by an
extensive annotated “Suggestions for Further Reading” section after
each essay.

This book, certainly well researched and well written, is an important
contribution to Canadian church history.