Episcopal History
The History of the Episcopal Church in America
History of the Episcopal Church in America
The history of the Episcopal Church as it evolved from the Anglican Church in Britain to the modern American form.
This page is intended as a resource for an adult Christian Education class leader. The substance of the PowerPoint decks is derived from an excellent history of the Episcopal Church in America by Robert Prichard, A History of the Episcopal Church, Revised Edition, Morehouse Publishing, 1999 and updated in 2014. There are materials in the PowerPoint decks from several other sources to complement the book.
These materials were developed and used in a class for adult education about Episcopal history through a Lent special offering. The decks have been redistributed for a twelve-week course. A leader should be able to facilitate the course with a basic understanding of North American history along with reading the most recent version of A History of the Episcopal Church, by Robert Prichard.
PowerPoint Decks
Twelve lessons — click any lesson to view or download from OneDrive.
Lesson One
Covers the Roanoke colony (1585–1587) and Jamestown. The First Eucharist in the colonies in 1607 by the Rev. Robert Hunt. Eucharistic practice, the Elizabethan Settlement, the 39 Articles, church music in the 16th century, and Bishop Cranmer's reforms.
Lesson Two
The 1600s in America and England. The clergy and the Virginia Company, the Episcopal Party, the Puritan party, Queen Elizabeth, James I, Charles I, Archbishop William. Anglican theology: transubstantiation, consubstantiation, real presence, Richard Hooker, and the strange relationship between the Puritans and Christmas.
Lesson Three
Early development of the American Colonies. Congregational polity, Dutch colonies, the Old Ship Meeting House, the Catholic Colony, Lord Calvert, Maryland, Baltimore Cathedral, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Rhode Island, the Church of England, and the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Development of the Book of Common Prayer and the 39 Articles.
Lesson Four
Scottish Bishops, predestination, Queen Anne's bounty, the Commissary System, James Blair, William and Mary College, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG), the Great Awakening 1740–1776, George Whitfield, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, and adult Baptism.
Lesson Five
Whitfield's 3rd and 4th visits, younger clergy, American denominations, Congregationalists of New England, the General Convention of 1789, the Revolutionary War, the Treaty of Paris (1783), John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, the Protestant Episcopal Church, and Bishop William White.
Lesson Six
The creation of the Episcopal Church from the ruin of war. William White, the First General Convention of 1785, two houses of governance, the radical Book of Common Prayer, Samuel Seabury, Bishop Seabury as Bishop of All America, Bishop William White, and Bishop Samuel Provoost.
Lesson Seven
The modern Episcopal Church begins to take shape. The General Convention with a second House of Bishops, James Madison ordained Bishop, Unitarians, Methodists, the 39 Articles adopted in 1804, General Seminary, The Protestant Episcopal Seminary of Virginia, Kenyon College, Francis Scott Key, and the Three Decker Pulpit.
Lesson Eight
The developing national Episcopal Church. Sunday School, Church Catechism, Bishop William White, the First Day Society, Vestry, Parish priest, John Henry Hobart, Apostolic Succession, Covenant Theology, Philander Chase, Benjamin Bosworth Smith, James Otey, Christ Church New Orleans, and the Louisiana Purchase.
Lesson Nine
The Episcopal Church enters 19th-century debates. The Oxford Movement, rational Anglicans, Oxford scholar John Keble, National Apostasy, Tracts for our Times, the Tractarian Movement, the Evangelical wing, High Church, the Anti-Oxford Movement, and the Anti-Oxford resolution.
Lesson Ten
Approaching the modern era and the 20th century. All Saints Parish in Northfield Minnesota, the Broad Church Movement, Trinity Parish in New York, the Conference of Church Workers Among the Colored People, Alexander Crummell, segregation, black suffragan Bishops Henry B. Delaney and Edward T. Denby, and the Church Congress 1874–1934.
Lesson Eleven
World War II and the period of American influence. Palm Sunday Processions, Neo-Orthodoxy, Paul Tillich, Education for Christian Living, the full-time Presiding Bishop, Women's auxiliaries, women church professionals, Prayer Book Studies IV, segregation, the University of the South, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, and Liturgical Revival.
Lesson Twelve
Present controversies that still form our debate. AWAKE, the American Anglican Council, the Ekklesia Society, the Emerging Church Network, the ordination of women, the Anglican Consultative Council, Via Media, the Anglican communion, the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA), and Bishop Eugene V. Robinson.
Primary Source
The substance of these PowerPoint decks is derived from A History of the Episcopal Church by Robert Prichard, Revised Edition, Morehouse Publishing, 1999 (updated 2014), along with several complementary sources indicated within the materials.