The Vestments Controversy in the Reformed Episcopal Church

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The Vestments Controversy in the Reformed Episcopal Church

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications Civil War Era Studies 9-1992 A Test of Identity: The esV tments Controversy in the Reformed Episcopal Church Allen C. Guelzo Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cwfac Part of the History of Religion Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Guelzo, Allen C. "A Test of Identity: The eV stments Controversy in The Reformed Episcopal Church, 1873-1897." Anglican and Episcopal History 61 (September 1992), 303-324. This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cwfac/14 This open access article is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Test of Identity: The esV tments Controversy in the Reformed Episcopal Church Abstract The er ligious culture of Anglicanism has, since the beginning of the 19th century, developed an extraordinarily rich and eclectic texture of liturgical symbol. The fact that symbol and ritual do bear such a weight of meaning for Anglicans suggests, in turn, that the savage conflict of evangelical and anglo-catholic in the Protestant Episcopal Church of the 1840s through the 1870s over vestments, relics, decorations, and even altar flowers, existed on more than the level of bad feelings or party crankiness. As it is, the very savagery of that conflict in those decades, along with its failure to achieve resolution until the evangelicals had actually seceded to form the Reformed Episcopal Church under Bishop George David Cummins, indicates that evangelicals and anglo- catholics were carrying on no small-scale, intramural disagreement. But more than that, the deliberate choice of vestments, chalices, postures, and altars as the evangelicals' chief grounds of contention actually heightens rather than (as some have suggested) trivializes the meaning of the evangelical/anglo-catholic struggle in America. [excerpt] Keywords Reformed Episcopal Church, vestments, George David Cummins, religious identity Disciplines History | History of Religion | Social History | United States History This article is available at The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cwfac/14 .

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