This thorough, carefully researched history sets church events against the background of social changes. This third revised edition will be up-to-date through the events of the 2012 General Convention of the Episcopal Church. "Prichard tells a lively story of the Episcopal tradition in America. He brings historical perspective to current debates, underlines the salutary force of creative leadership, and illumines the interplay between theological reflection, liturgical practice, and social change. This is a lucid and brisk account that brings the reader into the inner life of a denomination that has proven to be remarkably resilient. Prichard is both realistic about the challenges and hopeful about the possibilities. I found it engaging and instructive." ―E. Brooks Holifield, Charles Howard Candler Professor, Emeritus, Emory University "Prichard tells a lively story of the Episcopal tradition in America. He brings historical perspective to current debates, underlines the salutary force of creative leadership, and illumines the interplay between theological reflection, liturgical practice, and social change. This is a lucid and brisk account that brings the reader into the inner life of a denomination that has proven to be remarkably resilient. Prichard is both realistic about the challenges and hopeful about the possibilities. I found it engaging and instructive." ―E. Brooks Holifield, Charles Howard Candler Professor, Emeritus, Emory University Robert W. Prichard has been teaching liturgy at Virginia Theological Seminary since 1979. While his primary publications have been in church history, he has contributed occasional articles to journals and collections about the liturgy. Prichard has been a General Convention deputy since 2006 and has twice served on the General Convention's Joint Committee on Liturgy and Music. At the convention of 2015, he served as one of the two secretaries of that body. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia. A History of the Episcopal Church By ROBERT W. PRICHARD MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING Copyright © 2014 Robert W. Prichard All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8192-2877-2 Contents Illustrations, Tables, Preface to the Third Edition, Preface 1999, Preface to the First Edition, 1. Founding the Church in an Age of Fragmentation (1585–1688), 2. The Age of Reason and the American Colonies (1688–1740), 3. The Great Awakening (1740–76), 4. The American Revolution (1776–1800), 5. Rational Orthodoxy (1800–1840), 6. Romantic Reaction (1840–80), 7. A Broad Church (1880–1920), 8. The Twenties, Depression, and War (1920–45), 9. The Church Triumphant (1945–65), 10. A Reordered Church (1965–90), 11. A Leaner, More Nimble Church (1990–), Index, CHAPTER 1 Founding the Church in an Age of Fragmentation (1585–1688) Early Colonization in America Following a series of exploratory visits (Florida, 1565; California, 1579; Newfoundland, 1583; etc.), the English made their first attempt at American colonization at Roanoke Island (1585–87). They named the colony Virginia after Elizabeth the Virgin Queen (1558–1603), though the island is in what is now the state of North Carolina. The Roanoke effort was unsuccessful, in part because of the attempt of Queen Mary's widower, Philip II of Spain, to take control of England by sending the Spanish Armada (1588). In anticipation of that attack the English government directed all ships to remain in port. No supply ships made the trip to Roanoke until 1590, by which time no surviving colonists of what has come to be called "the Lost Colony" could be found. In 1607, however, an English mercantile company (the London Company) did plant a permanent colony further north, which it named Jamestown after James I (James VI of Scotland), who had followed Elizabeth to the English throne. During James's reign (1603–25), this Virginia colony was the primary focus of English colonial efforts. It was not, however, the only English settlement. Navigation was still an inexact science in the seventeenth century, and not all the ships headed for the new colony reached their intended destination. In 1612, the wreck of a ship bound for Virginia led to the establishment of an English colony in Bermuda, a collection of islands 580 miles to the east of the coast of North Carolina. In 1620, the Pilgrims, also bound for Virginia, landed at Plymouth, considerably to the north. In 1624 the English first visited the island of Barbados in the Caribbean, establishing a colony there three years later. English Christianity and the Reformation The colonists came from England to America at a time when the faith of the English people was in transition. As was the case with many of the people of Europe, the English of the seventeenth century were attempting to come to terms with a major transformation of the Christian faith that had taken place during the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Prior to the Reformation most English men and women accepted a