The Episcopalians [Paperback]

David Hein (Author), Gardiner H. Shattuck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

The story of Episcopalians in America is the story of an influential denomination that has furnished a large share of the American political and cultural leadership. Beginning with the Episcopal Church's roots in sixteenth-century England, The Episcopalians offers a fresh account of its rise to prominence. Chronologically arranged, it traces the establishment of colonial Anglicanism in the New World through the birth of the Episcopal Church after the Revolution and its rise throughout the nineteenth century, ending with the complex array of forces that helped shape it in the 20th century and the consecration of Gene Robinson in 2003.

The authors focus not only on the established leadership of the church but also to the experience of lay people, the form and function of sacred space, the evolution of church parties and theology, relations with other Christian communities, and the evolving ministries of women and minorities.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"How do you characterize a denomination that is doctrinally indifferent, liturgically lush, culturally elite, politically conservative, socially liberal, and that Thomas Merton once described as little more than an "atmosphere"? Hein and Shattuck have risen to the challenge with this lively, well-balanced, and readable book....Highly recommended. General readers; lower-level undergraduates and above."-Choice

Book Description

This book offers a fresh account of the Episcopal Church's rise to prominence in America.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 361 pages
• Publisher: CHURCH PUBLISHING INC (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898694973
• ISBN-13: 978-0898694970
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.8 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Protestantism > Anglican
  • #29 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Protestantism > Episcopalian

More About the Author

DAVID HEIN is a historian and tenured full professor at Hood College, in Frederick, Maryland. He is also an Affiliated Scholar of the John Jay Institute, Philadelphia, PA.

Dr Hein was educated at St Paul's School (Brooklandville, MD), the University of Virginia, and the University of Chicago. At his undergraduate school, UVa, he was elected to membership in the Raven Society and Omicron Delta Kappa; he was, in addition, an Echols Scholar and a Lawn Resident. During the summer following his third undergraduate year, he was an English-Speaking Union Scholar at Oxford University, where he read British literature with the legendary tutor Dorothy Bednarowska.

His PhD thesis became the first of his ten books: "Essays on Lincoln's Faith and Politics" (coauthor with Hans J. Morgenthau; 1983), recently called a "pioneering" study in the Lincoln field by historian Mark Noll. "The Episcopalians" (2004) was a selection of the History Book Club.

Lately, Professor Hein has focused his research on the period of the Second World War: "In War for Peace: General George C. Marshall's Core Convictions and Ethical Leadership," Touchstone 26 (March 2013); "Counterpoint to Combat: The Education of Airborne Commander James M. Gavin," ARMY 63 (July 2013); and "Vulnerable: HMS Prince of Wales in 1941," Journal of Military History 77 (July 2013). An earlier article on the war appeared in Anglican and Episcopal History: "Hugh Lister (1901-1944): Priest, Labor Leader, Combatant Officer" (2001).

Dr Hein's writings also include more than 50 articles in Modern Age, the Mississippi Quarterly, Cross Currents, the Journal of Ecclesiastical History, the Christian Century, Theology, and other distinguished journals.

A well-known historian, David Hein has been interviewed by NBC News, the Christian Science Monitor, the New York Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Associated Press, Religion News Service, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and other media outlets.

In 2000-01 and 2007-08, he served as an interim Dean of the Faculty. Twice he has received his institution's highest faculty award for scholarship and teaching.

In 2011 he was nominated and elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (UK) in recognition of his "original" and "significant" contributions to historical scholarship.

Dr Hein has delivered a number of invited, endowed lectures, the latest of which was the Jaak Seynaeve Memorial Lecture at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, in 2012. Recent or upcoming public lectures include "Churchill, Roosevelt, and HMS Prince of Wales" at the George C. Marshall Foundation, Lexington, VA, and "Education for Leadership: Marshall, Eisenhower, and Gavin" at the John Jay Institute, Philadelphia, PA.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great History of a Great Church May 8, 2004

By Dr. Michael B. Gehl

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book February 13, 2005

By David Montgomery

Format:Hardcover

Hein and Shattuck have written a highly readable and inclusive book on the history of the Episcopal Church from the early days at Jamestown, Virginia to the present day. They have divided the book into two sections; the first section covers the broader history of the church while the last section offers mini-biographical sketches of many influential men and women in the Episcopal Church.

Before it became the Protestant Episcopal Church, it was originally the Anglican Church, under the control of the Church of England before the American Revolution. The Episcopal Church is still part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, but no longer under direct control from England. The Anglicans were better established in parts of the southern colonies like Virginia than they were in New England, which was by and large inhabited by colonists who have been labeled either as Puritans or Separatists, those who either had cut off connections with the English Church or wanted to purify its teachings. With Britain's defeat after the American Revolution, American Anglicans had to struggle to survive as a vibrant, active denomination, eventually reorganizing into the Protestant Episcopal Church during the 1780s and 1790s.

The Episcopal Church, like many other denominations, has faced many challenges both external and internal. The Civil War briefly divided the church along sectional lines, social and economic conditions challenged the church to respond to those in need, leading to increased activism on the part of many church leaders, and contentions between conservative theology and more liberal, modernist views have threatened the unity of the church. Such issues included the infallibility vs historical criticism of the Bible, leadership roles for women and blacks in the church, as well as the more recent debates over the issue of homosexuality.

Throughout this book we also learn about many important leaders in the church including ministers, bishops, missionaries, educators and lay people. This second section of the book, which is somewhat longer than the first, provides these numerous mini-biographical portraits of influential men and women in the church's history. Many of these individuals I had never heard of, so for me it was quite an education. I suspect many Episcopalians would enjoy learning about some of these leaders who have shaped our church from colonial days to the present.

Personally, I would have liked the first section on the overall history of the church to have been longer. I felt some topics and periods in the church's history were a bit too brief or summarized, like the church during the Civil War period. Other than this minor complaint, this was an excellent book and the authors deserve our thanks. Their research was thorough and their bibliographic section is also great in terms of providing a useful listing of other books and sources on various periods in the church's history.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A lively, informative survey June 4, 2005

By Philip Blosser

Format:Hardcover

How do you characterize a denomination that is doctrinally indifferent, liturgically lush, culturally elite, politically conservative, socially liberal, and which Thomas Merton once described as little more than an "atmosphere"? Hein and Schattuck have risen to the challenge with this lively, well-balanced and readable book. Part One is a history, beginning with the denomination's Anglican origins in Henry VIII's divorce and tracing its American development up through its election of an openly gay bishop in 2003. It is never quite made clear whether this influential denomination, which has furnished a disproportionately large share of American political and cultural leadership, is actually leading or merely blowing with the wind. This question arises not only with the denomination's vanguard positions on contraception, civil rights, ordination of women and gays, but in its perennial reluctance to address the difficult issues attendant to its Anglican origins, such as William Cobbett addresses in his history of the Reformation in England. Part Two, the largest part of the book, offers a stunning list of biographical profiles, including Robert E. Lee, J.P. Morgan, George Whitefield, and many less-known churchmen, women leaders, and missionaries. Recommended for general readers. Despite one or two historical reservations, a darn good read.