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Spiritualism and Religion: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Critique of Christianity and a Roman Catholic Response

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

René Kollar
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Extract

On 13 August 1919 an interview between Charles Dawbarn, a member of the press, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the relationship between Christianity and Spiritualism appeared in the columns of The Daily Chronicle. Before the article appeared, Dawbarn had also asked the Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson, ,for an interview to give him the opportunity to state the position of Anglicanism in regard to Spiritualism. ‘It will be seen,’ he told the Archbishop, ‘that Sir Arthur blames the Church for cold comfort administered to those who mourn their dead and declares that windy words and dogmatic assertions prevail in the pulpit.’ Archbishop Davidson, however, refused this invitation. The article, ‘The Challenge of Spiritualism. Does It Confirm the Christian Doctrine of Immortality?,’ introduced Sir Arthur as ‘… the immortal literary figure … Sure we are that nothing but sincerity and a desire to serve humanity lies at the bottom of his missionary efforts for Spiritualism.’ Dawbarn noted that in the minds of many people Spiritualism did constitute a ‘challenge to the Churches, which has not been disregarded,’ and he drew attention to the words of Arthur Foley Winnington-Ingram, Bishop of London, at a recent Hyde Park meeting speaking about the influence of Spiritualism: ‘Many have been led astray.’ This statement appears to have been the occasion for the newspaper interview with Conan Doyle.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , May 1999 , pp. 397 - 413
Copyright
Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1973

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References

Notes

1 Dawbarn to Davidson, 8 August 1919, Lambeth Conference Papers 1920, LC 135, Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace, London.

2 The Daily Chronicle (London), 13 August 1919.

3 Jones, K., Conan Doyle and the Spirits. The Spiritualist Career of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Wellingborough, Northamptonshire: The Aquarian Press, 1989), p. 19.Google Scholar

4 Doyle, A. C., Memories and Adventures (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1924), p. 9.Google Scholar

5 Ibidem, p. 10.

6 Ibidem, p. 11.

7 Doyle, A. C., The Roman Catholic Church. A Rejoinder (London: Psychic Press, 1929), p. 14.Google Scholar

8 Doyle, A. C., The Vital Message (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1918), p. 188.Google Scholar

9 Doyle, A. C., Memories and Adventures, p. 15.Google Scholar

10 Ibidem, p. 25.

11 Ibidem, p. 26.

12 Ibidem, p. 27.

13 A. C. Doyle, Preface, The Roman Catholic Church. A Rejoinder.

14 Doyle, A. C., The History of Spiritualism, vol. 2 (London: Cassell and Co., 1926), p. 226.Google Scholar

15 Doyle, A. C., The Vital Message, p. 17.Google Scholar

16 Doyle, A. C., The New Revelation (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1918), p. 49.Google Scholar

17 Doyle, A. C., The History of Spiritualism, vol. 2, p. 225.Google Scholar

18 Doyle, A. C., What Does Spiritualism Actually Teach and Stand For (London: Psychic Bookshop, 1928), pp. 1516.Google Scholar

19 Jones, K., Conan Doyle and the Spirits, p. 118.Google Scholar

20 Ibidem, p. 119.

21 Doyle, A. C., The History of Spiritualism, vol. 2, p. 246.Google Scholar

22 Doyle, A. C., The Vital Message, pp. 21–22.Google Scholar

23 Ibidem, p. 36.

24 Ibidem, p. 159.

25 Jones, K., Conan Doyle and the Spirits, p. 120.Google Scholar

26 Doyle, A. C., The Vital Message, p. 28.Google Scholar

27 Doyle, A. C., Psychic Experiences (London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1925), p. 114.Google Scholar

28 Doyle, A. C., Preface, Pheneas Speaks. Direct Spirit Communications in the Family Circle (London: Psychic Press and Bookshop, 1927), p. 9.Google Scholar

29 Ibidem, p. 214. Pheneas was the guide of the Doyle family who spoke through Lady Doyle beginning in 1922. In the messages, he revealed that he was of Middle Eastern origin, having lived on earth before the time of Abraham.

30 Doyle, A. C., The New Revelation, p. 73.Google Scholar

31 Doyle, A. C., The Vital Message, p. 25.Google Scholar

32 Ibidem, p. 27.

33 Ibidem, p. 28.

34 Ibidem, p. 182.

35 Doyle, A. C., The Early Christian Church and Modern Spiritualism (London: Psychic Bookshop and Library, 1925), p. 6.Google Scholar

36 Doyle, A. C., Psychic Experiences, p. 110.Google Scholar

37 Doyle, A. C., The Early Christian Church and Modern Spiritualism, p. 8.Google Scholar

38 Doyle, A. C., The Vital Message, p. 78.Google Scholar

39 Doyle, A. C., The Early Christian Church and Modern Spiritualism, p. 8.Google Scholar

40 Doyle, A. C., The New Revelation, p. 80.Google Scholar

41 Doyle, A. C., The Early Christian Church and Modern Spiritualism, p. 11.Google Scholar

42 Doyle, A. C., The New Revelation, pp. 76–77.Google Scholar

43 Doyle, A. C., The History of Spiritualism, vol. 2, p. 262.Google Scholar

44 Doyle, A. C., The Vital Message, p. 17.Google Scholar

45 Doyle, A. C., The New Revelation, p. 70.Google Scholar

46 Doyle, A. C., An Open Letter to Those of My Generation (London: Psychic Press, 1929), p. 7.Google Scholar

47 Doyle, A. C., Psychical Experiences, p. 116.Google Scholar

48 Ibidem, p. 115.

49 Doyle, A. C., An Open Letter to Those of My Generation, p. 4.Google Scholar

50 Ibidem, p. 8.

51 Doyle, A. C., Psychic Experiences, p. 115.Google Scholar

52 Doyle, A. C., The Vital Message, p. 20.Google Scholar

53 Doyle, A. C., Psychic Experiences, p. 115.Google Scholar

54 Doyle, A. C., The Vital Message, p. 191.Google Scholar

55 Doyle, A. C., An Open Letter to Those of My Generation, p. 4.Google Scholar

56 Doyle, A. C., What Does Spiritualism Actually Teach and Stand For, p. 5.Google Scholar

57 Doyle, A. C., The New Revelation, pp. 75–76.Google Scholar

58 Doyle, A. C., The Vital Message, pp. 193–194.Google Scholar

59 Crehan, J., Father Thurston. A Memoir with a Bibliography of His Writings (London: Sheed and Ward, 1952), p. 134.Google Scholar

60 Ibidem, p. 135.

61 Ibidem, p. 6.

62 Ibidem, p. 139.

63 Ibidem.

64 Ibidem, pp. 140–142. According to Crehan, Thurston ‘next devoted himself to following up a hint given by some of his critics, that an examination of what Spiritualism led to and of what happened to famous mediums who had never been detected in any fraud might provide much valuable light on its true nature, diabolic or harmless,’ p. 142.

65 The Tablet, 11 November 1939.

66 Crehan, J., Father Thurston, p. 134.Google Scholar

67 Jones, K., Conan Doyle and the Spirits, p. 25.Google Scholar

68 Thurston, H., Modern Spiritualism (London: Sheed and Ward, 1928), p. 8.Google Scholar

69 Ibidem, p. 15.

70 Ibidem, p. 43.

71 Ibidem, p. 52.

72 Ibidem, p. 85.

73 Jones, K., Conan Doyle and the Spirits, p. 221.Google Scholar

74 A. C. Doyle, Preface, The Roman Catholic Church. A Rejoinder.

75 Ibidem, p. 5.

76 Ibidem, p. 6.

77 Ibidem, p. 10.

78 Ibidem, p. 11.

79 Ibidem, pp. 46–47.

80 Edwards, O. D., The Quest for Sherlock Holmes. A Biographical Study of Arthur Conan Doyle (Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, 1983), p. 257.Google Scholar

81 Doyle, A. C., The Roman Catholic Church. A Rejoinder, p. 56.Google Scholar

82 Ibidem, pp. 71–72.

83 Thurston, H., The Church and Spiritualism (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1933)Google Scholar.

84 Ibidem, p.xi.

85 Ibidem, p. xvii.

86 Thurston, H., Spiritualism (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1934), p. 6.Google Scholar

87 Ibidem, p. 15.

88 Ibidem, p. 18.

89 Ibidem, p. 29.

90 The Tablet, 11 November 1939.