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Weekly UpdatesRichard Allen, The Viewfrom Murney Tower: Salem Bland, the Late Victorian Controversies, and the Search for a New Christianity, Book One. Salem Bland: A Canadian Odyssey (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 2008)
RICHARD ALLEN'S latest addition to the fields of religious and intellectual history, The View from Murney Tower, provides a detailed account of the early life of Salem Bland, a giant in 19th century Canadian Methodism. At first glance, the book is a biography. Yet, at heart, the work chronicles the intellectual shifts of a crucial era for the Christian church, and for the nation itself. Bland both influenced and was affected by the religious and scientific thought of the day, and the structure of the book certainly reflects this dichotomy.
Overall, Allen follows a typical chronological narrative style. The book's early chapters are mainly devoted to Bland's father, Henry Flesher Bland, who was also a well-known Methodist preacher. By the fourth chapter, the focus turns to Bland himself. The remainder of the book chronicles his early career and the abundance of intellectual influences under which his work and personal faith developed. Thus, the book's main focus falls on the years between 1886 and the end of the Boer War. At just under four hundred pages, it almost goes without saying that Allen's writing is impressive in its depth and detail.
One of the book's greatest assets is its careful account of the shifting scientific and theological thought of the time. Bland was establishing his career and personal philosophies at the height of one of the most turbulent times in Western thought. He was well-read, theologically open, and maintained good notes; thus, Allen is able to make frequent forays into the intellectual currents of the day. With meticulous attention to philosophical details, Allen guides us through those currents, always with an eye to Bland himself and how these trends affected him. The View from Murney Tower, as Allen intended, is truly an intellectual biography. In other words, while those who seek the details of Bland's everyday life may be disappointed (or, at least, frustrated by the effort required to find such details amid the philosophy and theology), anyone eager for a lengthy discussion of late 19th century thought will be satisfied.
Those with even a passing knowledge of Bland may associate him with the social gospel and labour movements of the day. Through Bland, Allen shows that the social gospel movement did not emerge out of fear or a desire for relevance but out of sincere application and adaptation of evangelical faith. In this way, Allen sets his work apart from that of Brian McKillop or Ramsay Cook, arguing that Bland's personal faith transition was not a negative reaction to the intellectual challenges of the time but a positive, creative, energetic response to the needs of the day. This volume ends just as the social gospel movement is beginning, meaning that the best discussions of Bland's involvement with labour fall at the end of the book (for example, in chapter thirteen). Hopefully, those looking for more complete discussions of this aspect of Bland's life will not be disappointed by the second volume of this biography.
Despite its many qualities, The View from Murney Tower is not without certain puzzling characteristics. For instance, even in the introductory pages, there is little discussion of source material (aside from very limited mention in the final two pages of the otherwise unrelated prologue). Allen admits to using historical imagination to flesh out areas in which the sources are sparse; indeed, his narrative is much improved by this tool. That said, any discussion of a dearth of sources must be sought in the endnotes, not the text itself. The long gestation of this work no doubt contributed to the author's ease with the material; it has undoubtedly improved the quality of his story-telling. However, from the point of view of the reader, a more elaborate in-text discussion of sources might be useful.
As an intellectual biography, the book is highly successful. However, the result of such heavy emphasis on historical thought over the course of a lengthy narrative is a book that verges, at times, on inaccessibility. Chapter fourteen, for example, provides a detailed observation of the shifting theological winds affecting not only Bland, but contemporary Christianity itself. The chapter would be best understood by those with some theological training or personal knowledge. Indeed, unless one is particularly interested in the inner workings of theological discussions at that time, the chapter may seem superfluous. Allen's explorations of philosophical, religious, and scientific trends are certainly well written. Yet, given that his focus is Bland, these frequent (and lengthy) forays into 19th century thought may appear tangential.
Finally, we must consider the book's opening: a prologue which says very little about Bland and very much about the historiographical context in which Allen writes. On one hand, this sort of introduction is necessary: Allen is re-contextualizing his current work within several decades of religious and intellectual history. In this field, much has been written since Allen's last significant publications during the 1970s; some discussion is, therefore, understandable and welcome. On the other hand, one gets the impression that Allen is attempting to do too much in a relatively short space. After a brief but useful introduction to Bland himself, he turns to a historiographical discussion of evangelical and liberal theology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The prologue is problematic on a number of fronts, not the least of which is an unusual and critical focus on Michael Gauvreau's work, The Evangelical Century. Allen's insistence that Gauvreau does not pay attention to popular religion, in spite of the fact that Allen does not do much of this himself, is confusing. Bland ministered to a variety of congregations, but most of his faith formation is shown as a response to the intellectual stimuli of the day. Allen also spends significant space defending criticism of his earlier work, The Social Passion, a book published nearly four decades ago. In the midst of such a diverse discussion, the reader is left to wonder what all of this has to do with Salem Bland. By focusing so specifically on historiography and certain nuances of religious and intellectual history, Allen is also limiting his audience to those for whom Bland's credentials are common knowledge. For those historians who seek to bring religious history more completely into the mainstream of the Canadian field, this prologue (and, in many ways, the book that follows) may seem like a missed opportunity.
Despite these shortcomings, The View from Murney Tower is a highly useful account of late 19th century thought: a marvelous intellectual history of a man and an era. Allen must be commended for writing a detailed, yet readable biography of a Methodist preacher whose influence was felt well into the 20th century, and well beyond the bounds of religious institutions. The book's conclusion leaves us with the expectation that much of Salem Bland's story remains untold: thus, we eagerly await the second volume.
HEATHER LAING
McMaster University
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