Reactions to the Didache in Early Twentieth-century Britain: A Dispute over the Relationship of History and Doctrine?

This chapter describes about William Thomas Stead who was one of Britain's best known public intellectuals of the late Victorian period. He first emerged to national prominence in the 1870s as a voice of the Nonconformist Conscience in the agitation over Bulgarian atrocities. Early in January 1884, Stead, who had long admired the retired military leader and former governor of Sudan, General Charles Gordon, became convinced that only Gordon could save Egypt's collapsing control in the Sudan. In Stead's view, Gordon was an abolitionist and saint, who had campaigned while governor of the Sudan to suppress the slave trade, and who now returned to the Sudan to bring justice and peace. The newspaper's proprietor had been unhappy with the notoriety of the Maiden Tribute' campaign and reigned in Stead's enthusiasm. In his editor's preface, Stead described the ideal universal Church as one that would include all who can minister to the service of humanity' and which would address the multifarious human needs.