The Episcopalians (Denominations in America)

Rating:
Summary: A Great History of a Great Church
Review: As a recently confirmed member of the Episcopalian Communion, I was quite happy to find this new volume from The Greenwood Press series on denominational studies, an excellent successor to the American Church History Series (1893-1897). While there have been innumerable works on American religious denominations in the interim (including the constantly revised "Handbook of Denominations in the United States"), this series allows for a deeper and richer look into the history, evolution and specific theologies and practices of the major American denominations.
"The Episcopalians" is divided into two parts, namely a history of American Anglicanism/Episcopalianism by chronology, and a biographical history of the major leaders and luminaries in the Church's North American odyssey. Beginning with the antecedent Church of England and its relationship with the expanding Colonial Church, the story progresses through the tribulations of the Anglican Communion during and following the American Revolution, when the inevitable "split" from the Mother Church nearly destroyed the well-established (but "Bishopless") American parishes. With the final post-Independence reorganization of the church into the present day Episcopal Church in America, there followed the trauma of the Civil War, with its attendant near-schism over the issue of slavery (which, in contradistinction to other major American denominations, actually never occurred). History does not paint a very flattering picture of the Southern Churches, many of which were strong opponents of Emancipation; however, the Church survived, albeit wounded and suffering, as was the Nation. Excellent chapters on the post-war social and intellectual/theological changes and conflicts follow, including the church's involvement in Missionary work, the Anglo-Catholic ("Oxford Movement") controversy, the exodus from city to suburbs following World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, ecumenenism, and ending with an excellent conclusion that clearly illuminates the issues facing the American church today (women in the clergy, the Charismatic Movement begun in the 1970's, homosexual lay and clerical conflicts down to the present controversy over the ordination of a Gay Bishop in New Hampshire). There follow excellent biographical sketches of essentially all of the main players and luminaries who have influenced and guided the ever-evolving American Episcopalian Church within the broader worldwide Anglican Communion. These were especially valuable to me, as many individuals who were pivotal in the life of the Church are today little known or forgotten, and deserve their rightful place in the story of the church that was, at least in America's Revolutionary beginnings, the closest thing to a "National Church" that our Country has ever had, and which clearly played a pivotal role in the lives of many of our Founding Fathers and their historic roles in creating the beginning of "The Great Experiment" of American Democracy.
I highly recommend this book to any and all, Episcopalians or otherwise, as an excellent picture and example of the relationship between America's secular and religious histories, which are clearly deeply and irrevocably intertwined in our Country's past, present and future.

Rating:
Summary: The Importance of Origins
Review: As an Episcopalian, I was looking forward to the publication of this book by David Hein and Gardiner H. Shattuck. I had envisioned its content to be an in depth study of the the church from its Colonial Anglican beginnings to its present day establishment. Living in New England, I anticipated material about some of the first churches and their relevance to the developing structure of the burgeoning Anglican community. There was such a sparse treatment of this important aspect of church history that I find it difficult to praise the authors' efforts. For example, there is no mention of the construction of early edifices like that of St. Michael's Church in Marblehead, MA which was built in 1714 and still maintains clergy and parishioners to this very day. The frame and all the materials were brought from England. The first rector was William Shaw who took charge of the parish on the 20th of July 1715. Instead, the authors embellish upon churches located in the Carolinas and Virginia which were established later, in 1716. This in itself is informative, but it seems that more historical balance should have been used. When one is discussing the idea of Episcopalians, communicants and their churches become intwined in a personal relationship. Therefore, placing regional emphasis on early churches would have made the work more significant . The importance of origins should not have been overlooked.