First Forays

One of the surprising things that I have discovered in doing some of my initial research to gather a reading list is the lack of readily available materials on the history of the Anglican Church of Canada. There are some books to be sure, but many of them are out of print which I have had to order. It has been a bit of a treasure hunt. Any suggestions for great materials would be much appreciated!

The first two books that I will be blogging through are a general history of the ACC up to the second world war called The Anglican Church in Canada by Philip Carrington and a study commissioned by the ACC in 2002 called Stained Glass, Sweet Grass, Hosannas and Songs by Sally Edmonds Preiner. My plan will be to blog the main points of each chapter and then some of my own comments.

The first book is helpful as a general introduction although it is a bit dated. It came out in the early 60’s and tracks general Canadian history while commenting on what is going on at the time in the ACC. It seems a bit more triumphalistic than one would write today but it is interesting in identifying the major themes that come up again and again in the history of the ACC. Carrington seems to be an interesting fellow. He was a bishop of the Diocese of Quebec as well as the Metropolitan of Canada. He wrote several books other than this one including The Boy Scouts Camp Book in 1918. That seems very well rounded!

The second book is obviously more current and it looks like a study initiated by the ACC to look at the issues facing the church today. Topics covered include declining congregations, youth involvement, multicultural interpretations of Anglicanism, styles of worship (BCP/BAS), local outreach, social justice, residential schools, homosexuality, and even what it means to be an Anglican. The issue that it seems to raise from a cursory glance is the fact that our diversity is quite plain, which raises the question of what it is that keeps us together. Obviously this is one of the questions that I am interested in exploring in quite some depth: what is it about Anglicanism that keeps us together.

Together, the two books seem like a good place to start, one historical and one more current; one looking at historical themes and threads and the other looking at current themes and threads. It will be interesting to see if they mesh or clash!