Aspects of Constitutional History: The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada

William Gillespie, Ph.D., is a historian living in Guelph, Ontario.

Beginning in 1749, this carefully constructed monograph recounts the
constitutional evolution of the General Synod of the Anglican Church in
Canada. Despite the author’s legal expertise and his weaving of
relevant litigious precedents into the study, it is not a historical
treatment of the topic truly. It invests little time in historical
analysis, affords little attention to the influences Anglican leaders
exerted on the process, neglects the related
social/political/cultural/economic factors, and fails to explain the
“whys and hows” of this evolution. Instead, in an insular fashion,
it reports only the sequential constitutional actions that brought about
“the development and expanding exercise of its [the General Synod’s]
jurisdiction.” Its value, then, is as a historical tool.

This chronological focus allows the study to function as a subtle, but
forceful, apologetic. The book not only demonstrates the evolution of
the General Synod, it shows that the Anglican Church of Canada changed
from being episcopal to synodical or, at the very least, to
“synodico-episcopal.” This change took decision-making power from
the episcopal hierarchy and gave it to the General Synod.

The author uses his chronological approach to drive home the apparent
inevitability of the change. This approach allows him to record the
successive steps in the General Synod’s evolution without dealing with
the substance of the disputes, tensions, and conflicts that accompanied
these incremental advances—substance that might find disturbing
resonance today.