| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.3

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Modernity and the Dilemma of North American Anglican Identities, 1880–1950. By William H. Katerberg. (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001. xii, 306 pp. $49.95, ISBN 0-7735-2160-7.)

There seem to be two different theses or lines of argument, neither of them very clearly developed or succinctly stated, that are interwoven if not confused within this reworked doctoral dissertation from Queen's University in Canada. One is that most leaders of North American Anglicanism, at least in the period covered by this book, have generally failed to welcome or embrace or even understand an amorphous construct that William H. Katerberg calls "modernity." The other thesis is that the major leaders and historians of North American Anglicanism, within the period of time covered, have gradually fashioned what he calls "the myth of Anglican comprehensiveness" as a clever way to explain and cover up the paradoxes and inconsistencies that exist within Anglicanism. The author, of Dutch Reformed background, sees himself as standing over against this myth, which he seeks to expose and debunk. 1

The problem with Katerberg's first thesis is that "modernity," a term that appears on almost every page, is not defined and seems to mean virtually any new development that comes along. "Modernity" is the key word in his title, and he believes Anglicanism consistently failed to meet its challenges, but he only gives examples that are far too broad to constitute grounds upon which a demonstrable thesis could be built. . . .

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