The Metaphorical Usage of Gout in the Life of Charles Haddon Spurgeon

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The Metaphorical Usage of Gout in the Life of Charles Haddon Spurgeon THE VICTORIAN PREACHER’S MALADY: THE METAPHORICAL USAGE OF GOUT IN THE LIFE OF CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON A DISSERTATION IN Religious Studies and History Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by DALE WARREN SMITH BA, Southwest Baptist University, 1990 MDIV, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1994 STM, Yale University, 1997 Kansas City, Missouri 2017 THE VICTORIAN PREACHER’S MALADY: THE METAPHORICAL USAGE OF GOUT IN THE LIFE OF CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON Dale Warren Smith, Candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2017 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the use of the gout metaphor in the life and writings of one of Victorian England’s most eminent preachers and gout sufferers, the Baptist Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892). Careful scrutiny of his sermons, articles, and personal correspondence reveals both theological continuity with the seventeenth-century English Puritans as well as contemporaneous cultural currents, such as the Victorian ideal of Christian manliness and the presence of persistent tropes from England’s Georgian period. This study highlights the dramatic presentation and use of Spurgeon’s body in his preaching performances, especially in his early ministry. Spurgeon’s dramatic style, which was often pejoratively labeled as “theatrical,” and his phenomenal success, led to the construction of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Completed in 1861, this mammoth structure had a capacity to seat six thousand congregants. The architecture of Spurgeon’s Tabernacle, as it was also known, contained a protruding platform and was devoid of a traditional pulpit and organ. It was truly a “preacher’s hall.” These features focused the hearers’ attention on the body of Spurgeon. Spurgeon’s platform became the scene of another drama, one that took years to play out. Gout, along with Bright’s Disease (chronic inflammation of the kidneys) took its toll on the body of Spurgeon, transforming the once youthful, energetic preacher into a soft and bloated figure that struggled, at times, even to stand through the sermon. This very iii public transformation was also chronicled in Victorian material culture through cartes-de- visite, Cabinet cards, cartoons, and caricatures. The dissertation concludes with an analysis of gout and the contested body of Spurgeon. Particular attention is paid to the cartoon, “Parsons in the Pulpit.” The cartoon, like Spurgeon’s life, does not become intelligible unless read with gout and the notion of Christian manliness in mind. iv APPROVAL PAGE The faculty listed below, appointed by the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, have examined a dissertation titled “The Victorian Preacher’s Malady: The Metaphorical Usage of Gout in the Life of Charles Haddon Spurgeon,” presented by Dale Warren Smith, candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, and certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. Supervisory Committee Dr. Gary L. Ebersole, Ph.D., Committee Chair Department of History & Religious Studies Lynda Payne, Ph.D., RN, FLS, Co-chair Department of History Jeffrey S. Bennett, Ph.D. Department of Anthropology Dr. Christopher Cantwell, Ph.D. Department of Public History & Religious Studies Department of Urban Studies; Women & Gender Studies Craig R. Prentiss, Ph.D. Department of Theology & Religious Studies Rockhurst University v CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .......................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ xiv Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 Thesis ........................................................................................................ 3 Methodological Use of Elements from Victorian Material Culture ......... 9 Spurgeon Historiography ........................................................................ 12 Historiography of Cultural Studies of Gout ............................................ 21 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 25 2. SPURGEON’S LIFE AND THE INFLUENCE OF THE PURITANS .................. 29 Biographical Highlights .......................................................................... 29 Waterbeach Ministry .............................................................................. 41 Beginnings of London Ministry.............................................................. 43 Spurgeon and the Influence of the Puritans ............................................ 56 Framing Puritan Authority and Conclusion ............................................ 84 3. SPURGEON AND THE PRESENTATION OF HIS BODY ................................. 90 Description of His Body, Face, and Eyes ............................................... 92 Early Success and His Dramatic Style .................................................... 97 Spurgeon and the Theater ..................................................................... 117 Spurgeon and the Tabernacle ................................................................ 125 Spurgeon and Anti-Ritualism ............................................................... 138 vi Spurgeon and the Diseased Body ......................................................... 147 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 157 4. GOUT’S CULTURAL METAPHORS AND THE SEVENTEENTH- CENTURY PURITANS ....................................................................................... 159 Gout, Etiology, and Its History in Metaphor ..................................... 161 English Puritans and the Metaphors of Gout ..................................... 182 Gout and Sanctification ..................................................................... 201 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 212 5. SPURGEON’S USE OF THE GOUT METAPHOR AND ITS MEANINGS AND SIGNIFICANCES ....................................................................................... 216 Spurgeon’s Use of the Gout Metaphor ................................................. 218 Spurgeon, Gout, and Sanctification ...................................................... 247 Spurgeon and the Construction of the Body ......................................... 253 Spurgeon and the Ideal of Manliness .................................................... 262 Spurgeon’s Contested Body and His Final Years ................................. 270 Appendix A. Chronology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon ....................................... 278 B. Charles Haddon Spurgeon: A Life Through the Photographer’s Lens ....................................................................................................... 281 C. The Contested Body of Spurgeon from Satire to Solemn Procession ............................................................................................. 318 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................... 351 VITA .......................................................................................................................... 374 vii ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1.1 Thomas Rowlandson, “Comfort in the Gout,” c. 1785 .................................................. 8 1.2 “Gladstone with Spurgeon in the Speech Center” ....................................................... 15 2.1 Spurgeon Is the Fast Train ........................................................................................... 45 2.2 The Church of England Is the Slow Coach ................................................................. 46 2.3 Spurgeon (23 Years Old) ............................................................................................. 47 2.4 Young Spurgeon in Characteristic Pose ...................................................................... 51 2.5 Gorilla Lecturing on Spurgeon .................................................................................... 54 2.6 Spurgeon among the Divines ....................................................................................... 70 2.7 C. H. Spurgeon in the Pulpit at New Park Street Chapel ............................................ 72 2.8 Spurgeon among the Lilliputians ................................................................................. 73 2.9 “Catch ’em Alive O” ................................................................................................. 102 3.1 Interior of the Metropolitan Tabernacle .................................................................... 129 3.2 Interior of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, View from the Platform ............................ 132 3.3 Young Spurgeon at the Rail ....................................................................................... 134 5.1 The View of “Westwood” from across the Lake ....................................................... 225 5.2 Spurgeon’s Canes ...................................................................................................... 227 5.3 Spurgeon Gripping His Chair ...................................................................................
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