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Richard Whately—A Man For All
Seasons
Including Richard
Whately’s "Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Buonaparte" and "Historic
Certainties Respecting the Early History of America"
Author: Craig
Parton
Reviewed by Mary-Kay Brook, B.A.,
LL.B.
This little tome will
challenge your intellect, the way you think, and your morals. Not
because it is moralistic; quite the contrary. It is clear, concise, and lucid,
and leaves you wanting to meet this man - Richard Whately - but glad you can't
because you are sure you he would challenge you too much. He exposes our poorly
thought-out arguments and subjective thinking. His very life demonstrated our
failure to pursue truth, which we compound by a basic complacency to the needs
of those less fortunate.
This book contains a short
biographical sketch of Richard Whately, the extraordinary nineteenth century
Christian, thinker, writer, teacher and civil rights leader. It also includes a
fascinating annotated bibliography of select writings of Whately, plus the
bonus of two of his remarkable articles.
The biographical sketch of Whately by
Craig Parton simply whets your appetite and leaves you wanting more of this
incisive and intellectually critical man. Parton sets the stage by providing a
detailed yet concise precis of the political and philosophical times in which
Whately lived and published the two articles. They were times not unlike our
own, fraught with distrust of the Bible and the validity of Scripture as a
guide to life. The population grasped at alternative philosophical pursuits to
fill the void left by the inability of Christian institutions to meet people
"where they live" - to make the Gospel meaningful and applicable to their
lives.
In this environment, Whately first
studied at Oriel College in Oxford, then joined the faculty, which included no
less a personage than John Henry Newman who said that Whately "taught me to
think and open my mind." Whately's toughness and willingness to challenge
the status quo did not make him popular. He regularly chastised the Anglican
church and other denominations. He was of the view that preachers generally
"aim at nothing, and they hit it." Yet, he was elevated to Archbishop of Dublin
at the age of 44. (One wonders if the word "banished" would be more
applicable?)
Whately was well known for his
tendency to champion unpopular causes, such as civil rights for Catholics. One
of his first acts in Dublin was to sponsor the "Catholic Emancipation Bill" to
give Catholics the same civil rights as other citizens. He further lowered his
popularity by proposing a similar Act for the Jewish population. He espoused a
system of public education that was not based on particular religious
(Anglican) "party lines" but encompassed a Christian moral ethic. (the Catholic
and Jewish Emancipation Bills passed, the educational system failed.) Yet he
was an Anglican and stood four-square against the theology of the Catholic
Church.
The two articles by Whately are
brilliant illustrations of Whately's powerful thinking and clear, precise
writing style. What could have been very dry and tedious is rescued by his
incisive wit, sharp, pointed digs that show the gaps in logic, and precise
challenges to the theories proposed by others (notably David Hume), thought at
the time to be both logical and convincing. In "Historic Doubts Relative to
Napoleon Buonaparte" Whately uses a very sure and very sharp scalpel to dissect
Hume’s theories regarding the validity of the Gospels. He does this by
applying those theories to the existence of Napoleon Buonaparte, "proving" by
their logical application that Napoleon could not have lived as a single,
identifiable individual, but was probably at least a composite and maybe
entirely mythical. He also shows how the fantastical feats attributed to this
mythical persona must be equally mythical. No one person, Napoleon Buonaparte,
or anyone else could possibly have done all those things - it is beyond
experiential reliability.
If you are not familiar with Hume, no
matter. the articles are still astute, witty and intellectually challenging.
They are clear and involve deep and penetrating thoughts. their 19th century
scholar's writing style may be a little pedantic, but are well worth the
effort!
Whately loved the truth and worked
tirelessly to uphold it. He was what Jesus called all of us to be. He lived his
life and used his enormous intellect and critical thinking to teach, to
challenge, to work for the truths embodied in the Scripture. We could all learn
from him.
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