Revolutionary Anglicanism : the colonial Church of England clergy during the American Revolution / Nancy L. Rhoden.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rhoden, Nancy L. (Nancy Lee), 1965-

Contributor:

Charlton Yarnall Fund.

Yarnall Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church of England--United States--Clergy--History--18th century.

Church of England.

Episcopal Church.

Anglican Communion--United States--Clergy--History--18th century.

Anglican Communion.

Episcopal Church--Clergy--History--18th century.

Episcopal Church--History--18th century.

History.

Clergy.

United States--Church history--18th century.

United States.

Church history.

Physical Description:

xii, 205 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, 1999.

Summary:

Decisions of loyalism or patriotism were rarely easy during the American Revolution. The colonial Anglican clergy, all of whom had taken oaths to the King and his church, faced a particularly difficult dilemmaz Revolutionary governments demanded that they repudiate their oaths, end prayers for the King, and alter the liturgy.

Revolutionary Anglicanism examines the plight of these colonial clergymen, tracking down every one of the over 300 Anglican ministers in the thirteen colonies to assess their diverse political opinions and collective strategies for personal and institutional survival.

While the Revolution transformed and politicized the civilian population, Rhoden finds that most Anglican clergy experienced a process of depoliticization as they attempted to negotiate a volatile political climate in which they were viewed with grave suspicion by their revolutionary neighbors. This non-political foundation facilitated the creation of the American Episcopal Church, which began to embrace the new religious paradigms of the American republic.

By emphasizing the Revolution as a rejection not only of the English monarch but of his church, Revolutionary Anglicanism implicitly challenges the longstanding tradition which has placed Puritanism or evangelical religion at the center of the early American religious experience.

Contents:

2 The Pre-Revolutionary Colonial Church of England 10

3 The Bishop Controversy 37

4 The Political Philosophies of the Two Extremes 64

5 The Depoliticization of the Colonial Anglican Clergy 88

6 Divided Allegiances and Disestablishment 116

Appendix Colonial Church of England Ministers, 1775-83 148.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Charlton Yarnall Fund.

ISBN:

0814775195

OCLC:

39914235