The Churchmanship of John Strachan
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/article42899
- Author
- Osmond, Oliver R. (Oliver Robert), 1944-
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society
- Date
- 1974 September
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Date
- 1974 September
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 3
- Page
- [46]-59
- Notes
- "John Strachan is remembered chiefly for two facets of his long and varied life: as an educator and founder of educational institutions, and as a staunch defender of the position and rights of the United Church of England and Ireland in Canada" (p. [46]). "The most surprising thing about Strachan's exclusive claims for the Church of England is, at first sight at least, that they were made by one who was not himself born and raised a member of that church. The fact that he arrived in Canada a Presbyterian led, by all accounts to an increase in feeling against him later in life" (p. [46]). "On his arrival in Canada he had neither been confirmed by a bishop of his father's church [Episcopalian], nor had he received communion from a minister of his mother's [relief denomination]. Only in the spring of 1803 did Strachan receive the sacrament for the first time in his life in St. George's Church, Kingston, at the hands of its loyalist rector John Stuart, whom Strachan always referred to as his 'spiritual father'. On then, it seems, did he make the definitive step of becoming a member of any one religious body" (p. 47). "Of those men who influenced the young John Strachan in Canada, two in particular stand out. The first is Richard Cartwright, with whom Strachan lodged in Kingston and whose sons he was engaged to tutor. .... The other is the Rev. Dr. John Stuart, the rector of Kingston and the Bishop's Commissary for Upper Canada" (p. 47-48). "Perhaps ultimately more important than the influence of either of these two gentlemen who befriended him at Kingston, however, was that of the great Protestant Episcopal Church bishop of New York, John Henry Hobart. Hobart was the leading representative of American High Churchmanship, a movement that was an active and major force well before the Tractarians appeared on the scene" (p. 48). "'Evangelical truth and apostolic order' was to be the watchcry of the rising high churchmanship of the early nineteenth century" (p. 49). "Central to all Strachan's claims for the Anglican Church is the idea that it is a branch of the one universal church. .... The Roman Church is, to him, simply another branch (albeit a significantly larger one) of this one universal church. .... This claim of Strachan's was not a new one. Henry VIII has justified the break with Rome on the grounds that the Church of England had originally been an independent branch of the one Church and that its proper allegiance therefore was to the King rather than the Pope. What was new in Strachan's thought was the concept that the Church of England was independent of both Pope and King" (p. 50). "It will already have been apparent that for Strachan the claims of the Church of England were founded on her maintenance of primitive doctrines and practice. Like John Stuart before him he was attracted to the Anglican Church by 'the excellence of her doctrines, and the primitive purity of her worship and discipline'" (p. 51-52). "In arranging for the election of a bishop for the new Western diocese Strachan was reviving ancient practice. That he did so pleased him, despite the fact that it frustrated his own desire to see his lieutenant Bethune elected. He described the occasion to his own diocesan synod as one 'without parallel since the first ages of the Church' and emphasized the fact that they had chosen ' man well qualified to fill the high and holy office of Bishop according to apostolic usage'. An event which filled him with similar joy was the first Lambeth Conference in 1867. In writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury to explain his inability to attend -- he was now in his ninetieth year -- he said: 'Never probably since the era of the General Councils of the Primitive Church, would a more interesting and important assemblage of the Prelates of the Christian communion have been held than the meeting which is now proposed'" (p. 52). As bishop Strachan undertook regular parochial visitations of his diocese. "In each parish he would administer what he called the 'apostolic rite' of Confirmation. He saw this as an immensely important part of his ministry. From the earliest times the bishop has been the officiant at this final part of the Christian rite of initiation. Thus when circumstances have made it impossible for the bishop to be present the sacrament has normally fallen into disuse. Such was the situation in North American in the period before the division of the settled areas of the continent into dioceses of manageable size. Until the establishment of the diocese of Toronto with Strachan as its bishop Anglicans in rural areas would have little chance of being conscious of belonging to an episcopal church. Strachan therefore saw great value in his going from parish to parish administering Confirmation. Not only did the rite have a purpose of its own, but the presence of the bishop doing something which only a bishop is authorized to so was a powerful device for teaching people about the place of episcopacy within the Church" (p. 52-53). "The most significant movement in the Anglican Church during Strachan's ministry in Toronto was the high church revival that had its origins in Oxford in the 1830's. Mention has already been made of Strachan's sympathy with the Tractarians and the similarity of viewpoint on a number of subjects has presumably been apparent" (p. 53). "What can we conclude about the Churchmanship of Bishop Strachan ? Which of the conventional labels of high, low, broad, etc. can we best attach to him ? He is most generally regarded as a high churchman. He was certainly a believer in the rights, based on truth and purity of doctrine and constitution of the Anglican Church vis a vis both 'Popery' and 'Dissent'" (p. 56). "On a number of occasions he found himself at odds with evangelicals and he made little secret of his 'abhorrence of Calvinism, as presented in the Scotch Confession of Faith and in the writings of some popular English Divines', which dated from his youth. ... The emphasis on personal salvation and the individual's relationship with God tended to breed a lack of respect for church discipline and authority" (p. 57). "Strachan/s sympathy with the ideals of the Oxford Movement is very clear, although it is significant that he became disgusted once the drift towards Rome began, and he was never in sympathy with its more extreme elements" (p. 57). "There can be little doubt about Strachan's fundamental high churchmanship, but, unlike that of so many others, it was a high churchmanship tempered by broadmindedness" (p. 58). "It was always Strachan's desire to promote unity in his diocese. He never fell pray to the temptation to become involved in the promotion of party controversy, as did his friend, co-adjutor (with the title Bishop of Niagara) and successor, A.N. Bethune" (p. 58).
- The author "has recently moved from the diocese of Toronto to that of Fredericton, where is a partner in a team ministry based at Sackville. This paper arose out of work he is presently continuing towards his ThM, through the Toronto School of Theology" (p. 58).
- Subjects
- Strachan, John, 1778-1867
- Stuart, John, 1740-1811
- Hobart, John Henry, 1775-1830
- Oxford Movement
- Anglican Church of Canada - Bishops - Appointment, call and election
- Bishops - Appointment, call and election - Anglican Church of Canada - History
- Lambeth Conference, 1867
- Visitations, Ecclesiastical - Anglican Church of Canada - 19th century
- Confirmation - Anglican Church of Canada - 19th century
- Anglican Church of Canada - Parties and movements - History - 19th century
- Location
- General Synod Archives