Episcopal Church

(noun)

The Episcopal Church has its origins in the Church of England, stresses its continuity with the early universal Western church, and maintains apostolic succession. The first parish was founded in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 under the charter of the Virginia Company of London.

Related Terms

Examples of Episcopal Church in the following topics:

  • The Revolution and Churches

    • This was because the English monarch was the head of the church.
    • As a result, Church of England priests swore allegiance to the British crown at their ordination.
    • Furthermore, loyalty to the church and to its head could be construed as treason to the American cause.
    • The Anglican Communion was created, allowing a separated Episcopal Church of the United States that would still be in communion with the Church of England.
    • Jonathan Mayhew was a noted American minister at Old West Church, Boston, Massachusetts.

  • The Growth of Cities

    • Its large free black community aided fugitive slaves and founded the first independent black denomination in the nation, the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

  • The Anglican Class

    • The Church of England controlled Virginian society and government during the colonial era.
    • According to the ministers, the colonists were typically inattentive, disinterested, and bored during church services.
    • Baptists, German Lutherans, and Presbyterians funded their own ministers and favored disestablishment of the Anglican Church.
    • The Patriots, led by Thomas Jefferson, disestablished the Anglican Church in 1786.
    • Government and college officials in the capital at Williamsburg were required to attend services at this Anglican church.

  • The Mormons

    • With a small following, he organized the Church of Christ later that year, the progenitor of the Church of Latter-day Saints popularly known as "Mormons."
    • Smith’s new church placed great emphasis on work and discipline.
    • He aimed to create a New Jerusalem where the church would exercise oversight of its members.
    • This harsh treatment caused the body of the Church to move—first from New York to Ohio, then to Missouri, and then to Illinois, where church members built the city of Nauvoo.
    • Today a vast majority of Mormons are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), while a minority are members of other churches.

  • Separating Church and State

    • The Revolution's emphasis on liberty led to provisions for the separation of church from government (state) in the United States Constitution.
    • Echoing the language of the founder of the first Baptist church in America, Roger Williams—who had written in 1644 of a "hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world"—Jefferson wrote, "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."
    • The Dutch colony of New Netherland established the Dutch Reformed Church and outlawed all other worship, though enforcement was uncommon.
    • Religious conformity was desired partly for financial reasons, as the established church was responsible for poverty relief, putting dissenting churches at a significant disadvantage.
    • He garnered support among the local Baptists by warning them that the Constitution had no safeguard against creating a new national church.

  • The Mormon Exodus

    • Since its founding in 1830, members of the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) were often harshly treated by their neighbors, partially due to their religious beliefs and sometimes as a reaction against the actions and the words of the LDS Church and its members and leaders.
    • This harsh treatment caused the body of the Church to move from one place to another - from Ohio to Missouri, and then to Illinois, where church members built the city of Nauvoo.
    • The Mormon exodus began in 1846 when, in the face of these conflicts, Brigham Young (Joseph Smith's successor as President of the Church) decided to abandon Nauvoo and to establish a new home for the church in the Great Basin .
    • According to church belief, God inspired Young to call for the Saints (as church members call themselves) to organize and head west, beyond the western frontier of the United States (into what was then Mexico, though the U.S.
    • Map showing the westward exodus of the LDS Church between 1846 and 1869.

  • Unitarianism and Universalism

    • Charles Chauncy (1705–1787), pastor of the First Church from 1727 until his death, was both a Unitarian and a Universalist.
    • Churches were established in New York, Baltimore, Washington, Charleston, and elsewhere during this period.
    • The association published books, supported poor churches, sent out missionaries, and established new churches in nearly every state.
    • The Universalist Church of America grew to be the sixth-largest denomination in the United States at its peak.
    • Boston was the center of Unitarian activity in America, and the Brattle Street Church was a prominent Unitarian venue.

  • Free Blacks in the South

    • For instance, Wilberforce University, founded in Ohio in 1856 by Methodist and African Methodist Episcopal (AME) representatives for the education of African-American youth, initially received most of its funding from wealthy southern planters who wanted to pay for the education of their mixed-race children.

  • Puritanism

    • Within the Church of England, those who wanted to remove traces of pre-Reformation Catholicism came to be called "Puritans".
    • At the end of Elizabeth's reign, the Church of England was firmly in place, but within it were the seeds of future conflict.
    • They opposed religious practices in the Church that at any point came close to Roman Catholic ritual.
    • Roger Williams, who preached religious toleration, separation of Church and State, and a complete break with the Church of England, was banished and founded Rhode Island Colony, which became a haven for other refugees from the Puritan community, such as Anne Hutchinson.
    • Assess the cultural influence of Puritanism and how it affected the Church of England

  • Frontier Revivals

    • Upon their return home, most converts joined or created small local churches, which resulted in rapid growth for small religious institutions.
    • Stone (1772–1844) and Alexander Campbell (1788–1866), the camp meeting revival became a major mode of church expansion for denominations such as the Methodists and Baptists.
    • One of the early camp meetings took place in July 1800 at Gasper River Church in southwestern Kentucky.
    • The Cumberland Presbyterian Church emerged in Kentucky, and Cane Ridge was instrumental in fostering what became known as the "Restoration Movement," which was made up of nondenominational churches committed to what they saw as the original, fundamental Christianity of the New Testament.