This book - Centro de Estudos Anglicanos

112THE EPISCOPALIANSfundamentalists divided major denominations such as the Northern Baptist Conventionand the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., and the Scopes trial of 1925signaled the continuing hold of traditional cultural values on the nation’s ruralareas. 3Relatively untroubled by controversies that upset other American denominations,Episcopalians entered the 1920s in a supremely confident mood. Theirchurch had experienced steady growth between 1880 and 1920—the number ofits parishes doubling (from 4,151 to 8,365) and its membership tripling (from345,433 to 1,075,820) in size. In fact, Episcopal leaders initially resisted participationin the Federal Council of Churches because they believed that their denominationwas comprehensive enough by itself to become the “bridge church”into which all others would one day be united. The Episcopal Church, theythought, embodied the best aspects of Catholicism and Protestantism, traditionand modernity, diversity and unity—qualities that other Christians might soonhave the wisdom to recognize. Since the denomination enjoyed considerable socialprestige and occupied a position of historic importance in the Anglo-American world, Episcopalians assumed that they had a unique responsibility todictate the course of ecumenical affairs. 4Ideas about bureaucratic efficiency also encouraged Episcopalians to modernizeand expand their operations at the national level. The General Convention of1919 passed a resolution that required the presiding bishop (formerly the seniordiocesan bishop in the United States) to be elected by the House of Bishops fora renewable six-year term. At the same time, the convention established a 24-member National Council, chaired by the presiding bishop and composed of equalnumbers of bishops, priests, and laymen. The council was given authority tocoordinate the ongoing work of the denomination between triennial meetings ofthe General Convention. Finally, having seen the value of large-scale fund-raisingdrives during the war, Episcopalians initiated a nationwide campaign to identifythe needs of their denomination and to increase its financial support. Through thiseffort, the 1919 convention aspired “to bring the spiritual and material resourcesof the Church to bear more effectively . . . upon her whole task as witness to theMaster.” 5THE FAITH AND ORDER MOVEMENTDespite Episcopalians’ general opposition to collaborating with other AmericanProtestants through the Federal Council of Churches, Charles Henry Brent, bishopof the Philippines, emerged as a key figure in the early stages of the internationalecumenical movement. Brent had become committed to the cause of church unitywhile attending the Edinburgh Missionary Conference in 1910, when twelve hundreddelegates from various ecclesiastical traditions and countries gathered todiscuss issues relating to worldwide Christian evangelism. “I was converted,” helater reported. “I learned that something was working that was not of man in thatconference; that the Spirit of God was . . . preparing a new era in the history of