It is with good reason that "The Church in the Canadian Era" has become the standard text chronicling the history of Christianity in Canada beginning in 1867, the year of Confederation. In this book, historian John Webster Grant traces how the major denominations established themselves in the new country of Canada and how they mobilized themselves in Canada's unique context. Throughout its history, Canada has been caught between the immediate influence of its southern neighbour and its European (British and French) heritage and this dynamic has impacted Canadian churches. Due to Canada's vast range, denominations were driven to merge in order to share resources and effectively minister to far-flung communities (nowhere is this more in evidence than the formation of the United Church of Canada in 1925, comprising 2/3 of Canada's Presbyterians, Methodists and Congregationalists. Readers will be introduced to the stories of Canada's denominations and figures such as (the delightfully named) Bishop William Bompas and fundamentalist T.T. Shields. Grant's history is lighter on theology developments (although he notes the impact of such movements like the social gospel and neo-orthodoxy) and attentive to the changing character of Canadian culture, such as urbanization and the waves of immigration and how these created both opportunities and challenges as the churches, especially the United Church, sought to become the institutions that would provide cohesion in a pluralizing culture. The post-war period provided its own tumult and struggles, often leading the churches into wacky liturgical experiments.
One downside is that Grant spends most of his time focusing on traditional denominations, particularly the Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians; less attention is given to denominations that emerged in the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, such as the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Church of the Nazarene and Pentecostals. Additionally, because this history is not limited to ONE denomination, Grant goes back and forth between regions and churches at a sometimes frenetic pace (save for the province's rapid secularization in the 1960s, Quebec is the most static as Roman Catholicism was easily the dominant Christian tradition, providing its people with guidance in education, economics and community activity). The first edition of "The Church in the Canadian Era" was published in 1972 and moves little beyond the events of the Second Vatican Council; the 1988 edition narrates the slight recovery the churches enjoyed from 1975-onwards following a period of doubt and uncertainty between the 1960s-1974 (Canada had actually had a startling religious boom from 1945-60). As such, the book is becoming dated as subsequent developments in Canadian church history, such as the Toronto Blessing and the fracturing of Canadian Anglicanism are not accounted for. Grant also, unfortunately, relies on some archaic terms such as "Eskimos" instead of "Inuit." I would like to have seen a better analysis on the role of politics and religion (Tommy Douglas, one of the most beloved Canadians of all time and a Baptist minister and party leader is only mentioned in passing once); as Grant himself notes, the usurpation of education, healthcare and ethical direction allowed Canadians to neglect the church by limiting it to a purely spiritual role and so how this played out should have received further discussion (this should also give pause to those believers who laud the crumbling of cultural Christendom; removing Christianity from places of influence in the public sphere helped make Christianity seem irrelevant to Canadians). Abortion, one of the most contentious issues dividing Canadians to this day, does not receive the attention it warrants.
Still, this IS a classic and is a great place for readers to start if they want to explore Canadian church history.
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