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Subject: Re: [Sc-Ir] Re: Scotch-Irish-D Digest V03 #57
Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 20:25:25 EST
Now for a church historical moment....
Whatever lurking horrors our ancestors imagined, the pre-19th-century "High
Church Episcopalians" were not closet Romanists. The infamous Archbishop
Laud laid his head on the block as a Protestant. The post-Restoration
bishops were no great fans of James VII (in the Scottish enumeration), but
also felt bound by their oaths to James, so withdrew at the Glorious
Revolution.
The basic fact is that the 17th century was horribly messy in relation to the
mix of religion and politics, and neither the zealot nor the cynical
powermonger comes out terribly well. And, alas, too few of the humbly
sincere were on the scene. We should neither turn them into heros or
villains, but regard them as a cautionary tale. The heritage of those days
still haunts Northern Ireland in particular, but the ghosties are elsewhere
too.
It is not until Cardinal Newman and the Oxford Movement in the 19th century
that the High Church really became "Anglo-Catholic".
Ken Cuthbertson
Albuquerque, NM
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