The Life of Joseph Parker (1902) is the most complete biography of Joseph Parker available. It includes the story of his upbringing in Northumberland, his call to ministry, his training, and his three pastorates, the third of which came to be the most significant in London for a number of years.

I have written my own small portrait of Joseph Parker, which appears in the 2022 reprint edition of his People’s Bible series; so, I refrain here from offering a lengthy summary of Adamson’s work. But I have put down here some of the more unique aspects of his book (being as it is, one of several biographies of one of the greatest Victorian preachers).

Joseph Parker’s childhood and training are described largely from letters from people who knew him well. These are well worth reading. Parker had a singular personality. He was an inquisitive learner and did well in school, and in his early teens tutored other young scholars in Greek and mathematics. Thinking he was not suitable for a trade, his parents apprenticed him to become a stonemason, like his father, but after a short time he rejected this career path and returned to his education.

As he became famous, Parker befriended quite a number of other celebrity pastors, including Henry Ward Beecher, Charles Spurgeon, Thomas Binney, and R. W. Dale. These friendships are only mentioned by Adamson, but they receive much more attention in two books, Spurgeon and His Friendships (A. Cunningham-Burley) and Dr. Parker and His Friends (G. H. Pike).

On Parker’s early preaching, you can read more in his own works, in the introduction to Tyne Folk and in his A Preacher’s Life.

Parker’s Dream for Dissenters

The climax of Adamson’s book comes in the last few chapters. These chapters describe events that must have been quite fresh to the author and I did not see described elsewhere.

Parker had a dream of independent churches (i.e. Congregationalists) collaborating and sharing training and facilities. He expressed this view at a 1901 conference at which Alexander MacLaren (President of the Baptist Union) was presiding. His speech on the topic was looked upon critically by listeners, but oddly enough, the organizational scheme which he proposed, rejected outright in his lifetime, was later realized in some capacity as the Congregational Union of England and Wales was largely absorbed into the United Reformed Church in 1972. Regardless of the complications, his ecumenical vision for reaching and teaching his nation was ahead of his time.