27 Facts About Albert Carman

Albert Carman was a Canadian Methodist minister and teacher who became head of the Methodist Church in Canada.

Albert Carman was born on 27 June 1833 in Iroquois, Ontario, Canada, son of Philip Carman and Emeline Shaver.

Albert Carman was admitted to Victoria College, Cobourg in 1851.

Albert Carman was converted in the winter of 1854, and was encouraged by his father to join the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada.

Albert Carman joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1857 as a probationer.

Albert Carman graduated from Victoria College in 1855, and was headmaster of Dundas County Grammar School from 1854 to 1857.

Albert Carman's father sent food to the school to help out.

Albert Carman made the Belleville Seminary succeed through advocacy within the church and through his ability as a teacher and administrator.

Albert Carman married Mary Jane Sisk of Belleville on 19 July 1860.

In 1870 Albert Carman established a faculty of divinity, and organized faculties of arts, engineering, law and music.

Albert Carman became a member of the Senate of Victoria College, a foundation of the Wesleyan Methodists.

Between 1868 and 1874 Albert Carman was involved in the negotiations for unity with the other Methodist churches in Canada.

Albert Carman was elected colleague of Bishop James Richardson and ordained bishop at Napanee on 4 September 1874.

Albert Carman was succeeded at the Albert College by Jabez R Jacques from the American Episcopal Methodist Church.

Albert Carman tried to improve church organization and expand into urban areas and the prairies, but was not successful.

Albert Carman managed to negotiate a Basis of Union, accepted by both churches in December 1882, where two elected general superintendents would head the combined church.

At a special session of the Methodist Episcopal General Conference in January 1883 Albert Carman argued that the general superintendency would be a scriptural episcopacy.

Albert Carman spoke at the 1902 General Conference in favor of serious consideration of union of the Protestant churches.

At the 1911 Ecumenical Methodist Conference in Toronto Albert Carman intervened in a debate on "The Permanent Results of Biblical Criticism".

Albert Carman wrote two novels that reflected his father's social radicalism.

Albert Carman was orthodox, and tried to maintain the traditional centrist position of the Methodist church.

Albert Carman was opposed both to ultra-conservatism and to liberal theology, both of which he considered to be divisive.

Albert Carman rejected the view that religion should focus on humanity rather than God, or that biblical teaching could be used selectively.

Albert Carman felt these attitudes were incompatible with the basic Methodist belief in the need for a continued and disciplined struggle against personal sin, and would tend to weaken Christian beliefs.

Albert Carman believed that the Bible was the literal word of God.

Albert Carman was in favor of social reform to make Canada a truly Christian country, but was opposed to radicals who wanted to overthrow the established order.

Albert Carman distrusted the wealthy laity and looked to the middle classes to take the lead in creating a more "brotherly" society.