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| Title: | Apostle of the North
: Memoirs of the Right Reverend William Carpenter Bompas |
| Series: | (Western Canada Reprint Series) |
| Author: | H Cody; Introduction by William Morrison & Kenneth Coates |
| ISBN: | 0888644000 : 9780888644008 |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Size: | 155x230mm |
| Pages: | 476 |
| Weight: | .747 Kg. |
| Published: | University of Alberta Press - December 2002 |
| List Price: | 19.99 Pounds Sterling |
| Availability: | In Print |
| Subjects: | Christianity: Canada |
H A Cody's 'An Apostle of the North', originally published in 1908, captures perfectly the zeal of the 19th century missionary and tells the story of a man called to do God's work in the Diocese of Athabasca in the most northern regions of Canada. Bishop William Carpenter Bompas was a difficult man, cantankerous, stubborn, and more than a little eccentric. He carried on his shoulders the deep spirituality of his own faith, the assumptions of his background, and the cultural aggressiveness of the Victorian age. He was a church leader who often disagreed with his church and ignored its advice. Bompas's life in the North offers insights into the compelling force of religion and faith, one of the most pervasive forces in human experience, capable of transforming people, creating conflict, spreading hope, motivating entire nations, and, as history has shown, making horrible and damaging mistakes. In a new Introduction, historians William Morrison and Ken Coates examine Bompas's career, exploring themes central to the history of the church in Canada and to aboriginal-newcomer relations and giving a new critical evaluation of the missionary enterprise.
"...Morrison and Coates decided to write an extensive introduction and republish H.A. Cody's 1908 biography of Bompas. The introduction is excellent; they provide context for understanding the significance of Bompas's life and offer their own appreciation for Cody's work....Through a work that has largely been forgotten, Morrison and Coates have helped recover an important figure and have raised significant questions about how we have come to understand the role of Western religion in the Pacific Northwest." -- Dale E. Soden, Whitworth College, Pacific Northwest Quarterly Volume 95 number 1. "H.A. Cody wrote An Apostle of the North in 1908, when a missionary could still be a hero, and Cody had no doubt that Bishop Bompas was heroic. The editors of this edition, two history professors of scrupulous academic detachment, come close to wondering if he might have been right....[The editors] recognized the existing biography as an important historical document in its own right, and decided to reprint it, accompanied by a comprehensive introduction from their modern perspectives. Their choice to conceptualise, and not to rewrite, results in a multi-level work which re-introduces not only Bompas, but his Boswell as well." -- Phyllis Reeve, BC Historical News Journal, Vol. 37, No. 3. "Historians will welcome this reissue of H.A. Cody's 1908 An Apostle of the North. Kenneth S. Coates and William S. Morrison had intended to write a biography of Bompas (1834-1906) but the dearth of personal papers led them to edit a contemporary's memoirs." -- Jacqueline Gresko, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 55, No. 3. "Those interested in the history of Native-newcomer relations, northern Canada, and religious or mission history will find the reissue of this biography useful and the introduction compelling." -- Myra Rutherdale (U of Sask.), The Canadian Historical Review, Vol. 85, No. 1.
