The Canadian Protestant Experience, 1760 to 1990

Book excerpt: Five leading Canadian religious historians address the Canadian Protestant experience. Each author considers a separate period, taking into account the major underlying themes of the time and noting the influence exerted by key personalities. As this collection shows, Protestantism had its most profound effects on Canadian life in the nineteenth century. As the twentieth century unfolded, however, Canadian Protestantism, battered by demographic change, profound inner doubt, so-called modernity, and secularization, was gradually pushed to the periphery of Canadian experience. The contributors are Phyllis D. Airhart, Nancy Christie, Michael Gauvreau, John G. Stackhouse Jr, and Robert A. Wright.