CHURCH TIMES 

REVIEWS

A HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH SCHISM IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Church Times is the leading weekly religious news periodical in England, and arguably the most important in the Anglican world. For over one hundred and fifty years, it has followed events in the Church of England and, to some degree, the Anglican churches beyond. It is an honor to have my book chosen for review in this venerable old publication. This is the first professional review of the book since it was published in August of 2017.

Find the review here .

The reviewer is the Rev. Dr. Jeremy Morris, Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, a prominent scholar on church history. His report appeared in the April 6, 2018, edition of the newspaper.

The sub-title of the article sets the tone of the review: "Unfortunately, it sets the reader a heavy task, says Jeremy Morris." Heavy in more ways than one. "This is a mammoth of a book," he says.

As the reader can see, Morris does not disagree with, or criticize, my thesis, interpretations, or conclusions. He does not take issue with what the book says, but how it says it. To summarize his remarks, he sees the book as too long, too detailed, too biased, simplistic in theology, poorly copy edited, and lacking enough explanation/interpretation. I do not disagree with most of this although I would take a slight exception that the book is too one-sided and lacks adequate interpretation. I methodically included all the documents I could find from every source. If my interpretations of the sources are pro-Church, and they ultimately are, that comes from the body of the evidence.  

To be sure, the book is long, detailed, and heavily ladened with facts. It is 300,000 words. I was trained in the old fashioned school of history called "the scientific school" which demanded discovery and inclusion of every bit of evidence, laid out in a reasonable chronological narrative, providing meticulous documentation, and arriving at logical conclusions based on the evidence presented. My professors of long ago would have accepted nothing less. I admit, the book is daunting: long, a bit dense and slow going. That is because it is thorough and painstakingly documented. 

As for simplistic theology, this is a book of history, not theology, and it was written for the ordinary laypeople, not theologians. I consciously tried to make the theological issues easy to understand. I do not mind if anyone quibbles with that.

As for the copy editing and repetition, I plead no contest.

There is a fine line in historical writing between being too interpretive and not interpretive enough. In the book, I offered summaries of content throughout, typically at the ends and beginnings of chapters to keep the narrative flowing. The last chapter is the conclusion that is drawn from the entire body of the information in the narrative preceding it. 

I hope to publish a second edition of this book (or maybe Vol. II the way things are going) after the litigation is finished. I have a standing invitation to all people on both sides to share with me their experiences in the schism. If anyone has new documents to add, please send them to me. The more evidence the better, even though I went though 2,500 items. Moreover, if anyone knows of erroneous information in the text, let me know for correction. Contact me at my email address above. My fondest desire is that this work becomes the standard history of the schism in South Carolina; and so I want it to stand up well long after I am gone. 

On the whole, Morris has given the book a good review and I appreciate it. The criticisms he made are well-taken.

Meanwhile, I look forward to more critiques in professional periodicals.