145 - American Presbyterians: A Pictorial History

American Presbyterians: A Pictorial History
By James H. Smylie
Philadelphia, Presbyterian Historical Society, 1985. 269 pp. $12.95.

Probably no living scholar has a surer grasp of the intricacies of Presbyterian history in America than James H. Smylie, veteran editor of The Journal of Presbyterian History. His Pictorial History distills that immense knowledge and presents the result in a highly informative and entertaining format. Smylie has collected more than seven hundred pictures and illustrations that bring the Presbyterian past to life. The extraordinary range and balance of his selections convey the diversity of that past.

He traces a religious life ramified through more than a dozen separate denominations and played out in log cabins, austere Greek revival churches, and ivy-covered neo-Gothic sanctuaries. His pictures remind us that Presbyterians writhed at frontier camp meetings, but also founded colleges and seminaries and wrote erudite systematic theologies. We are reminded, too, of the often mutually opposed stands our ancestors adopted in the face of controversial political questions. Some Presbyterians condemned slavery on moral grounds; others elaborated biblical rationales for the peculiar institution. More recently, Presbyterians such as Yale Chaplain, William Sloane Coffin, took to the streets in protest against the nation's war policy in Vietnam, while one of their more prominent co-religionists-Secretary of State

146 - American Presbyterians: A Pictorial History

Dean Rusk-helped direct that policy.

Smylie is to be commended for escaping the trap of a narrowly ecclesiastical definition of Presbyterianism. Although he treats the prominent missionaries, theologians, and liturgists, he remembers that much of the churches' influence on American life has come from the activities of lay persons. Here Smylie goes well beyond the standard list of public figures such as John Foster Dulles and the nation's Presbyterian presidents. He reminds us of the Presbyterian connections of many whom we may not have so identified: a Supreme Court Justice who filed a dissent in the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson case, a leader of the United Steelworkers of America, and the organizer of the Gray Panthers. Smylie's inclusiveness is noteworthy in another way. Although the Presbyterian churches have been predominantly white and male dominated, the author does not ignore the contributions of women and minorities to the Presbyterian story.

There are, of course, limitations to the kind of history contained in Smylie's volume. No pictorial account-not even one which, like this work, is accompanied by a well-written brief commentary-can explore all the nuances of historical issues. Yet Smylie's book accomplishes something quite substantial. It makes history almost tangible and lends a sense of reality to the persons who created this heritage. For those who wish a handy reference to Presbyterian history in America, this book should take its place alongside Lefferts Loetscher's standard A Brief History of the Presbyterians.

James H. Moorhead
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, N.J.