BISHOP J.C. RYLE
Prince of tract writers
By Alan Munden. Day One. 128 pages. £10.00
ISBN 978 1 846 253 270
On visiting Liverpool’s Anglican cathedral, I enquired at the desk for the tomb of that city’s first bishop, John Charles Ryle. Who? They couldn’t help me, hardly knew the name! This book now deserves a prominent place on its bookstall, and they will be without excuse.
But that response is a sign of the times, when, in spite of his robust churchmanship, Ryle seems better known among Free Churches than in the Church of England. Alan Munden’s work comes from within the Anglican scene and understands its peculiarities, but can be valued by evangelicals of every label.
This latest in the enterprising and highly readable series of Travel Guides has the familiar merits of user-friendly facts, apt quotations and a wealth of photographs; like the others it shows us bypaths we might never think of pursuing.
Readers discovering high Suffolk will enjoy the painted Scripture texts by which Ryle adorned (some say, vandalised) the church interior of Helmingham and the tombs of the great and good — ‘There is none righteous, no, not one’, etc. Those reaching Stradbroke may notice the stained glass, unique for its period, with which the rector enriched the medieval architecture in a Protestant direction. Maps and directions are provided here.
The full story will help to explain the book’s rather surprising sub-title, and reveal one unexpected flaw in his character. Other faults were quickly pounced on by Anglo-Catholics. Bishop Ryle remains a giant, forceful in print as in person, notably for his best-selling Holiness, a robust and biblical response to some wayward teaching of his day and ours.
The ‘Further Reading’ could have included John Charles Ryle: Evangelical Bishop (by Toon and Smout, 1975); harder to obtain now, which makes this all the more vital in filling the gap.
