Article

Albert Carman

Published Online February 24, 2008

Last Edited December 10, 2013

Albert Carman, Methodist clergyman, teacher (b at Iroquois, Upper Canada 27 June 1833; d at Toronto 3 Nov 1917). Dr Carman was a skilled administrator and preacher firmly committed to the warm, personal piety of traditional Methodism.

Carman, Albert

Albert Carman, Methodist clergyman, teacher (b at Iroquois, Upper Canada 27 June 1833; d at Toronto 3 Nov 1917). Dr Carman was a skilled administrator and preacher firmly committed to the warm, personal piety of traditional Methodism. Although he had spent 2 decades as a mathematics teacher and school administrator before becoming a clergyman, he opposed those who advocated the "higher criticism" or scientific study of the Bible, charging that they were undermining Christian faith. He was bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church before the 1884 union of all Canadian Methodist churches. Though a genial man, he took his personal authority seriously. As general superintendent after union until retirement, he successfully encouraged missions to prairie settlers. His last decade in office was marked by spectacular clashes with more liberal Methodists. He retired in 1915.