Modernity and the Dilemma of North American Anglican Identities, 1880-1950 (McGill-Queen’s Studies in the Hist of Re)

by William H. Katerberg

He describes the life and work of five leaders in the Anglican Church in Canada and the Episcopal Church in the United States who came of age in the late nineteenth century and served their religious communities until the mid-twentieth century. As clergy and educators they hoped to root the faith of modern Anglicans/Episcopalians in past traditions to provide a compelling spiritual purpose and identity for the present and the future. Their attempts to articulate a historical basis for Anglican unity and Christian ecumenism often had contradictory and even sectarian results. Modernity and the Dilemma of North American Anglican Identities, 1880-1950 offers historians and scholars of religion and culture in North America a comparative perspective and a new way to understand how a previous generation looked to the past to address the dilemmas of an uncertain present and future.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2001

Reviews

[Dasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Katerberg uses prominent Anglican figures (from both Canada and the US) to trace the different developments of Anglican thought and belief. In doing so, he highlights the variance of Anglican tradition in order to consider how the Anglican Church may shift and adapt to challenges of the 21st century.

[Andrew Marr · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative investigation of The Episcopal Church of the USA & the Anglican Church of Canada. Brief survey chapters are interspersed with biographical sketches of five significant figures in one church or the other, most of them not particularly well-known today even by they co-religionists.

[Chris Schutte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful reflection on North American Anglican struggles to carve out identities in their struggles with modernity. Especially helpful chapters on early-20th century Evangelical Anglican Americans--an under-researched community.