Ernest Kevan, Leader in Twentieth Century British Evangelicalism, by Paul E Brown, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, paperback, 312 pages, £8.00. Over the past 20 years there has developed a growing literature on the recovery in England during the latter half of the twentieth century of Evangelicalism in general, and the Reformed Faith in particular. To many of the current readers of the Free Presbyterian Magazine the name of Ernest Frederick Kevan will be unfamiliar. He was, however, as the title of Paul Brown’s book suggests, one of the leaders in this movement.
Kevan was a Strict Baptist minister (not Gospel Standard) who, after two decades in the pastoral ministry in the London area, became the first Principal of the inter-denominational London Bible College. Until his death in 1965, it was regarded as the most conservative Bible College in England.
Born on 11 January 1903, he came from a Strict Baptist family. When his father had to give up work due to a damaged heart at the age of 45, Ernest Kevan had to leave school, aged 17, and commenced work in the tea-tasting department of the Home and Colonial Stores in Mincing Lane, London.
Following a period of spiritual concern he had been converted at the age of 14 and seven years later, in 1924, though he had no formal ministerial training, he was called to be Pastor of Church Hill Baptist Church in Walthamstow. Formed in 1633, this was the oldest Baptist Church in London. Kevan served the congregation for ten years and on the three-hundredth anniversary of the congregation he wrote his first book, London’s Oldest Baptist Church (The Kingsgate Press, 1933).
He then went on for a further decade to pastor another London congregation south of the Thames, at New Cross, before commencing a two-year pastorate in a Calvinistic Baptist Chapel in Tooting. The chapters of the biography detailing these pastorates provide a fascinating insight into the life of the non-Gospel Standard Strict Baptist Churches in London in the inter-war years
1Both publications reviewed here are obtainable from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
and then during the Second World War when the capital was being attacked by German bombers.
Kevan’s third pastorate was cut short due to his appointment in 1944 to the faculty of the newly-formed London Bible College. He became Principal two years later and continued in this strategic position until his death in 1965 at the age of 62. Based in central London, the College originally offered only correspondence courses and evening classes. By 1944, over 300 students were enrolled, and two years later the number had increased to 1400. The first 23 full-time students started their studies in 1946.
As Principal of London Bible College he took a leading role in Reformed organisations in the capital and was an an active participant in the Puritan Conference. Kevan also promoted Evangelical biblical scholarship by his contributions to theological journals and by co-editing the landmark volume, published by the Inter-Varsity Fellowship in 1953, The New Bible Commentary. To this book Kevan contributed the exposition of Genesis and a Note on the Resurrection Appearances of our Lord.
From a Free Presbyterian perspective there are aspects of Dr Kevan’s life and witness of which we would wholeheartedly approve and other matters at which we would demur. On the positive side he was committed to church extension and believed that not only ministers but also all Christians should be noted for a commitment to work hard and not waste time. During his second pastorate he renounced the commonly-held Strict Baptist view that, because a sinner is dead in sin and morally and spiritually unable to believe, it is not his duty to do so. Kevan heartily approved of distinct ministerial dress and would have been horrified at the way many professed Evangelical ministers in England dress at the present time.
Matters in his witness at which we would demur were his commitment to pacifism, his attendance and speaking at the Keswick Convention (even though in his Bible Reading series in 1953 on Romans 7 and 8 he expounded the Reformed view of those chapters and contradicted the view of Keswick teachers like Graham Scroggie) and his support of Billy Graham’s Harringay Crusade. It came as a surprise to the reviewer to learn that Kevan’s book, What the Scriptures Teach (Evangelical Press, 1966), was originally a series of eight booklets for training counsellors at Harringay and his book Going On, (Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1964) was a correspondence course he had been commissioned to write for those professing conversion at Harringay. The books give no indication of their origin.
At the end of the biography there is a nine-page appendix reviewing and giving excerpts from Kevan’s magnum opus, The Grace of Law (Carey Kingsgate Press, 1964 and recently reprinted by Reformation Heritage Books).
This was his doctoral thesis on the Puritan view of the Law and is a most useful and important book.
Paul Brown, who was a student at London Bible College when Kevan was Principal, has produced a well-researched biography that is essential for understanding the resurgence in Evangelical scholarship in England after World War II. The biography began as a lecture, at the 2008 Westminster Conference, which Mr Brown was encouraged to expand into a book. The volume is a huge step forward from Gilbert W Kirby’s slender life, Ernest Kevan – Pastor and Principal (Victory Press, 1968). The quality of the book meets the usual high standards of the Banner of Truth Trust. Roy Middleton
The Culdee Church, Scotland’s First Presbyterians, by T V Moore, published by the James Begg Society (Issue 66 of The Presbyterian Standard), booklet, 44 pages, £2.50, obtainable from the F P Bookroom.
This historical article by the American Bible commentator and Presbyterian minister, T V Moore (1818-1871) was originally published in 1868 in Central Presbyterian magazine. It has the explanatory sub-heading: “The historical connection of modern Presbyterian churches with those of Apostolic times, through the Church of Scotland”. It was originally aimed at young people amid fears that “there is a growing tendency amongst our people, and especially our young people, to give in to the exclusive claims of other Churches to Apostolical authority, and to concede some species of inferiority to the Presbyterian Church in this matter” (p 40).
The booklet sets out to show that Christianity came to Scotland through the Greek Church and not the Roman or Western Church. It develops this foundation by seeking to demonstrate that the Celtic Church in Scotland (identified with those known as Culdee missionaries) had a more Presbyterian structure than the hierarchical system of Episcopacy imposed by Rome.
Evidence is brought out which shows that there were very significant differences and conflicts between the early Culdee Church and the Romish missionaries, and that persecution of the Culdees led to the Romanising of Scotland in the twelfth century, prior to the Reformation. Much of the material will be familiar to students of Scottish Church history, but this booklet is a useful reminder for young people that the claims of Rome to an unbroken succession through the early and middle ages of the Christian era are unfounded as far as Scotland in particular is concerned.
This book is not an academic study; it is easy to read and convincing in its arguments. It does not set out to prove an exact parallel between the Culdee Church and the Presbyterian Church in Scotland after the Reformation,
but it is successful in correcting several myths regarding the history of Christianity in Scotland. If it stirs up interest and engagement with the past works of the Lord in our land it will serve a very useful purpose.
(Rev) D Campbell
Protestant View
Reactions to Resignation of Cardinal O’Brien1
Cardinal Keith O’Brien is no longer Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh; he suddenly resigned because of complaints made against him by three priests and a former priest. The complainants contacted the Vatican’s ambassador to Britain, alleging serious inappropriate conduct towards each of them by the Cardinal some 30 years ago.
In his statement of February 25, O’Brien, who was due to retire in March, said that the Pope “has now decided that my resignation will take effect today” – making it clear, as has been said, that “he was pushed more than he jumped”. He did not deny but just “contests” the allegations.
He was the only British cleric due to participate in the imminent conclave in Rome for the election of a new pope, but he will not now do so. While some other cardinals are facing calls not to attend the conclave because of allegations of covering up abuse by priests, Cardinal O’Brien’s case is regarded as more serious because it is alleged that he was personally and directly involved in grave misconduct with others.
Even doughty defenders of Roman Catholicism see his resignation as a disaster for their church. Clifford Longley, columnist for the Roman Catholic newspaper The Tablet, says that it is “the worst thing that could possibly have happened to the Church at this moment”. Damian Thompson of The Daily Telegraph says it will “remind the cardinals . . . that allegations against its clergy have now permeated the entire institution”. He adds that if the charges have any substance, “then the public credibility of the Scottish Catholic Church will collapse”. Professor Tom Devine, a Roman Catholic academic, said he is concerned by the lack of a denial in the cardinal’s resignation statement, and that this resignation “is probably the gravest single public crisis to hit the Catholic Church in Scotland since the Reformation”.
Even Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor says, in response to the resignation, “As
1Since this piece was written, the Cardinal has confessed, “There have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal”. In the light of this, Archbishop Tartaglia of Glasgow has admitted, “The credibility and moral authority of the Catholic Church has been dealt a serious blow”. Ed.
you know, there have been troubles in recent years and scandals, and these have to be addressed. . . . The pope’s own house has to be put in order. . . . There is no doubt in my mind that there has to be reform.”
Can there be meaningful reform of an organisation which deplores the great and glorious, liberating Reformation of the sixteenth century and continues to oppose it? For a start, Rome would have to repudiate its grossly false doctrine of papal infallibility. But that is impossible, because the Vatican Council of 1870, having stated that the pope is “possessed of infallibility” when “he defines . . . a doctrine concerning faith and morals”, also decided that his definitions “are irreformable of themselves”.
The papacy, having thus locked itself into its numerous errors, is beyond reform in the sense of removing the errors and adhering solely to the truth of Scripture. So it is not only hastening its own destruction but also tragically deluding multitudes. May the time speedily come, as it surely will, when the call shall be obeyed on a large scale: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Cor 6:17). NMR