This book - Centro de Estudos Anglicanos

338BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAYtended to dismiss the colonial Anglican establishment as weak and ineffective, Nelsonreveals a comparatively vigorous church on the eve of the American Revolution. Readersshould also consult S. Charles Bolton, Southern Anglicanism: The Church of England inColonial South Carolina (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1982), to understand the developmentof the Anglican ethos in another southern colony. In addition, as their titles suggest,the doctoral dissertations of Carol Lee van Voorst, “The Anglican Clergy in Maryland,1692–1776” (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1978), and Sandra Ryan Dresbeck, “TheEpiscopalian Clergy in Maryland and Virginia, 1765–1805” (Ph.D. diss., University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles, 1976), offer chronologically overlapping glimpses into the livesof the ordained leadership in the Chesapeake region throughout the colonial period.The critical social role performed by the Church of England is one of the subjects ofRhys Isaac’s prize-winning book, The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790 (ChapelHill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982). In Isaac’s estimation, “churchgoing incolonial Virginia had more to do with expressing the dominance of the gentry than withinculcating piety” (p. 120). Henry F. May, The Enlightenment in America (New York:Oxford University Press, 1976), paints a similar but somewhat more appealing picture ofthe social virtues that Anglicans held dear: tolerance, moderation, and rationality. “AmericanAnglicanism,” May writes, “tried to be at once fervent and comforting, at once missionaryand comprehensive” (p. 67). As Rhys Isaac further emphasizes, the rise ofevangelical enthusiasm in the mid-eighteenth century not only threatened the religioushegemony of Anglicanism but also coincided with the initial stages of the political revoltof the colonies from Great Britain. Because the emergence of the Methodist movementout of the Anglican establishment is a significant part of this story, readers should alsoconsult books about John Wesley and the origins of American Methodism. Both Dee E.Andrews, The Methodists and Revolutionary America, 1760–1800: The Shaping of anEvangelical Culture (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000), and John H. Wigger,Taking Heaven by Storm: Methodism and the Rise of Popular Christianity in America(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), are excellent studies of early Methodist ideasand leaders. The writings of Devereux Jarratt, an Anglican clergyman who cooperated withthe Methodists in the 1770s, provide important insights into the intimate links betweencolonial Anglicanism and Methodism. A new edition of his widely cited autobiography,The Life of the Reverend Devereux Jarratt (Cleveland: Pilgrim, 1995), contains a helpfulforeword by David L. Holmes.The enduring conflict between Anglican and Puritan social thought was one of the majorfactors in the coming of the American Revolution, adding a religious vocabulary to manyof the political debates of the 1760s and 1770s. An excellent introduction to the relationshipbetween religion and politics in the American colonies is Patricia U. Bonomi, Under theCope of Heaven: Religion, Society, and Politics in Colonial America (New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1986). Two recent books focus closely on Anglican leaders in the revolutionaryperiod. Peter M. Doll, Revolution, Religion, and National Identity: ImperialAnglicanism in British North America, 1745–1795 (Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh DickinsonUniversity Press, 2000), demonstrates how the aggressive campaign waged by high churchAnglicans for an American episcopate heightened dissatisfaction in the colonies with theBritish government. And Nancy L. Rhoden, Revolutionary Anglicanism: The ColonialChurch of England Clergy during the American Revolution (New York: New York UniversityPress, 1999), examines the impact of political affairs on Anglican clergy in thecolonies. Carl Bridenbaugh, Mitre and Sceptre: Transatlantic Faiths, Ideas, Personalities,and Politics, 1689–1775 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1962), remains an excellent,