Episcopal Church 101: History and Legacy

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Summary Notes

• Episcopal comes from Greek word episkopos meaning overseer or bishop. Unlike our Mother Church in England where the Monarch is the head of the church, the Episcopal Church finds authority in bishops.
• Henry VIII break from Rome was politically motivated while the Reformation on the continent was theologically motivated (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc.). Before break from Rome, Pope called Henry “Defender of the Faith” for criticizing Luther. Henry did move for worship to be said in English (Latin no longer common language of church) and permitted laity to drink wine. Anglican legacy: gospel takes root in local vernacular and authority should be local
• Under the reign of Elizabeth I, the Church of England found a compromise (Via Media) between the Roman Catholic and Protestant expression of faith. The result was a prayer book written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Anglican legacy: Both/And& theology shaped by prayer not confession or dogma
• Anglicanism in colonies varied by region.
• Virginia: Vestries a part of local government, taxed churches, imported priests
• Southern: Influenced by Age of Enlightenment, Jefferson Bible – took out references to miraculous, relied on human agency and not Divine intervention
• New England: Puritans created established church, Anglicans minority class – relied on support from Church of England/loyalists
• How would Anglicans survive the Revolutionary War
• Samuel Seabury consecrated bishop in Scotland by bishops who didn’t swear oath to crown in England. Legacy: used Scottish Eucharistic Prayer for consecration taken from E. Orthodox
• New England – wanted bishops; VA/southern – didn’t care for bishops. William White created a 2-house system to govern (House of Deputies and House of Bishops)
• Bishops began as Rectors of large parishes and gradually took on more administrative duties
• Anglicanism spreads during British Colonization – Chicago/Lambeth Quadrilateral defined common beliefs across church:
• 1) scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation 2) Apostles’/Nicene Creed sufficient statements of faith 3) Baptism/Eucharist – Great Sacraments 4) authority in local bishops
• Renewal Movements
• Early 18^thcentury – Great Awakening– call to repentance and conversion – emotional appeal (George Whitfield, John and Charles Wesley)
• Mid-19^thcentury – Oxford Movement– move to add ceremony to liturgy (priest vestments, crucifix, stained-glass, incense). Also, concerned with social justice because high church liturgy attracted blue collar/immigrant
• Mid-19^thcentury – named Domestic and Foreign Missionary Societyof the Protestant Episcopal Church – everyone called to mission work – even locally.
• Women’s Auxiliary (Episcopal Church Women) – created charities/societies for poor and needy
• Created social agencies to support widowed, orphaned, poor, etc.
• Church begin to turn inward – 20^thcentury
• Government took over many social causes
• Civil Rights, Women’s Ordination, New Prayer Book 
• Changing Role of Women
• Career women – volunteer power in church diminished
• Women’s ordination 
• Church grew in 80s/90s
• 60% non-cradle Episcopalians. 
• RC’s who wanted to think for themselves + 
• Protestants who wanted liturgy 
• Benefactor Paradigm
• Early 20^thcentury – wanted to be national church 
• National Cathedral
• Sanctify nation/moral compass
• Power, privilege, resources support poor/advocate for poor/political action
• 1960s – church no longer moral authority
• church no longer established position in society – therefore advocacy/political work not as powerful (still important but can't be only work)
• Inherent power imbalance with givers and receivers
• Fundamental question: In addition to supporting/advocating for poor/marginalized, how to identity with and receive from vulnerable?
• New Apostolic Era
• Default religion in America: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
• There is a God – created world
• God wants us to be good, nice, fair – like taught in most religions
• Central goal of life – be happy, feel good about oneself
• God not called upon unless crisis to resolve
• Good people go to heaven when they die
• Disconnected from narratives of Christian tradition
• Many spiritual options (pluralism)
• Discontinuity and fragmentation in culture (technology)
• New Tribalism (Fox v. MSNBC)

“We are in a new day, where a different kind of conversation must guide us forward, a conversation that attends deeply to God’s promises in Christ. As long as we focus on the church and try through our own best efforts to turn things around, there is no reason to believe much will change. Instead, now is a moment to refocus our attention of the story of God’s life with and for us in Christ through the power of the Spirit — to live more deeply into our identity as people of the Way.” – Dwight Zschelie