Church, College, and Clergy: A History of Theological Education at Knox College, Toronto, 1844-1994

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

A notable characteristic of Presbyterianism is the important place it
has given to learning and scholarship, and its insistence on an educated
ministry. Thus, it should not be surprising that in 1844, only one year
after the Presbyterian Church in Scotland was split in two, sympathizers
of the Free Church branch who had moved to Toronto elected to set up a
theological college to train clergy. The college, which in 1846 was
named Knox College, continues to this day; this book, written by a
professor of church history at the Vancouver School of Theology,
celebrates the college’s 150th anniversary.

Over the years, the college survived some impressive challenges, not
the least of which were various union movements—first in 1875, when
all Presbyterian Churches in Canada became one; and later in 1926, when
most Presbyterians elected to join the Methodists and Congregationalists
to become the United Church of Canada. All existing faculty chose to
move over to the new church, and Knox had to begin afresh. Underlying
many of these challenges were differing visions of what Presbyterianism
was about, and it is one of Fraser’s accomplishments that he has
clarified the varying theological debates. His general theme is that the
college’s professorate had an enormous impact on the church, its
clergy, and their education, and understandably he has focused his
research on “the views of the faculty as expressed in lectures and
published in books, pamphlets and articles that had wide circulation in
the church.”

Whatever its subtitle, then, this is not a comprehensive study of Knox,
for Fraser touches only peripherally on such matters as the personal
lives and relations of faculty, students, and student life as well as
the college’s financial and administrative history. Such omissions
were deliberate and invite further research.