Book Reviews -- By: Mark R. Stevenson

Journal: Emmaus Journal
Volume: EMJ 19:2 (Summer 2010)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Mark R. Stevenson


Book Reviews

Editor

Mark R. Stevenson

The Life and Times of Charles Henry Mackintosh 1820-1896: A Biography By Edwin N. Cross, London: Chapter Two, 2011, 233 pages, hardcover, £19.95.

This book is the last published work of Edwin Cross, whose early death deprived Brethren historians of one who, though not well-known outside his own circles, was always ready to assist researchers and who was himself an inveterate sleuth. Given that he was involved with all kinds of evangelistic and teaching work, it is remarkable that he was able to produce several such books and to research them so fully. We are in his debt as a result, and the tribute to him in an appendix is deserved. His experience as a publisher means that this book is beautifully produced, as are others in this series, and lavishly illustrated (though few of the pictures are credited).

Hitherto Mackintosh (known to thousands as “CHM”) has lacked a modern biographer. He needed one. Whilst he was not an original thinker, he did much to popularize the distinctive ideas of J. N. Darby, and his writings were read far beyond Brethren circles. This work is not so much a “critical biography” in the contemporary sense as a thorough investigation of what can be known about its subject. It does not claim to be objective, and on occasion the writer’s own standpoint as a Kelly brother is evident. But it does give us what so many earlier Brethren memoirs have lacked: a firm base of facts and some clear indication of sources. The author has worked hard to remedy the lack of available information on CHM and to place him in context (especially in chapter 1), although only one work on the Irish background appears in the bibliography. And we are able to follow the paper trail because it is also carefully referenced for the most part, although notes run in one sequence throughout the book rather than starting afresh in each chapter.

The author’s careful research and lucid writing style mean that readers will learn much. I confess that I had not realized—or had forgotten—that CHM practiced believer’s baptism (pp.150-1). Coverage is mainly chronological, but on occasion issues from later periods are introduced without explanation, e.g. the Christological controversy occasioned by CHM’s remarks about Christ’s “heavenly humanity” in the 1870s (p. 70). Cross believes the significance of this to have been minimal. In terms of its impact on the development of nineteenth century Brethren Christology, that is probably so. But I think the way this doctrine has been taught by the Brethren calls for fuller investigation. Later controversies which divided the Exclusive Brethren from 1879 onwards receiv...

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