Scripture, Satan, and the Sacrament: The Clifton Excommunication Case of 1874–1876

Abstract

Abstract In 1874 Flavel Cook, the evangelical vicar of Christ Church, Clifton, barred one of his parishioners, Henry Jenkins, from receiving holy communion after a dispute over the personality of Satan and the reality of eternal punishment. Jenkins sued Cook through the courts, and eventually won his case in 1876 on appeal to the judicial committee of the privy council, leading to Cook’s resignation. The controversy stimulated wide debate on church discipline, the rights of the laity, and whether Christians are obliged to obey the civil law. It also revealed deep disagreements over the relationship between reason, moral conscience, and biblical revelation, and the nature of ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ in a comprehensive Church of England.