Just to keep the roots straight : "City on the Hill" - not 'Light on the
Hill' - was a quote from John Winthrop, a leader of the first Puritan*
exodus from England to establish settlements at Massachusetts Bay in the
1630s -- refugees escaping the Church of England under Bishop and then
Archbishop Wm. Laud.
   The clarification is significant in that students of New England church
history/theology distinguish between the Separating congregationalism of the
Pilgrims (or Brownists), who renounced the Church of England when they
escaped first to Leyden and from there to Plymouth in the 1620s, and the
non-Separating congregationalism of the Massachusetts Bay colonists, who, as
Winthrop wrote, claimed to be establishing a city on the hill to serve as an
example that would help the Church of England purge itself of what they
regarded as non-Biblical and popish traditions and practices.
  Many historians in turn point to that sense of mission embodied in the
Winthrop quote and many other writings and sermons (i.e. wanting to change
others behaviors and beliefs in contrast to the Pilgrims who sought to
preserve their own behaviors and beliefs) as a major theme in subsequent
American history.  Frederick Merk's _Mission and Manifest Destiny in
American History_ is one of the classic statements of that thesis - and of
course Perry Miller was the scholar who highlighted the distinction between
the separating and non-separating congregationalists.

-- 
Jon Kukla
www.JonKukla.com <http://www.jonkukla.com/>
==========

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 6:51 PM, Ian Welch <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Thanks Craig, I know it well. The theological issues are less focused upon
> than the politics and personalities within the church and the articles are,
> as is so often the case, bereft of any substantial statistical evidence. I
> have been chasing up the episcopal establishment processes with great
> interest. We are fortunate in Australia that the issues of overseas Anglican
> dioceses (outside of England that is) while linked to North America in terms
> of the role of the Bishops of London, was resolved by the debate over an
> American Anglican episcopate although now, in the way of canon lawyers, the
> status of many bishops in the US of the umpteen neoAnglican groupings is a
> thing of wonder.
>
>
> One of the mysteries of Episcopalian thought, to a foreign Anglican, is how
> the idea developed that TEC has any claim to be the 'national' church in
> America (vide 'national cathedral' in Washington) and from that, the only
> legitimate voice of the Anglican tradition in North America and now, it
> seems, in much of the Americas and elsewhere. It is all the more surprising
> given the relatively tiny numerical strength of the TEC - less than
> Anglicanism in Australia.
>
>
> I have been astonished, frankly, to see some writing that suggests that the
> TEC is more legitimate historically than Rome itself. That absolutely
> bewilders me and seems to have some roots in the 'Light on the Hill'
> dimension that so affects American perceptions of the world.
>
>
> All of the above has arisen from wide reading that started with Lydia Mary
> Fay. But I can close by saying that she had one hell of a romantic passion
> for a certain Alexandria clergyman who was her great hope and eventual
> disillusionment when it came to marriage. Hence off to China!
>
>
> Ian
>
>
> On 24-09-09, Craig Kilby  <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > Ian,
> >
> > Volume 15, No. 2 (2007) of the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
> is devoted entirely to the history of the Episcopalian Church in Virginia
> from 1607 to the present.  It was written by Edward L. Bond and Joan R.
> Gundersen It is divided into these chapters:
> >
> > 1. Colonial Origins and Growth: The Church of England Adapts to North
> America, 1607-1760
> > 2. Like a Phoenix from the Ashes: The Reinvention of the Church of
> Virginia, 1760-1840
> > 3. Evangelicals Ascendant: Bishop Meade and the High Tide of Evangelical
> Episcopalianism, 1840-1865
> > 4. Reinventing Mission: The Diocese of Virginia, 1865-1970
> > 5. Recent Crises: Coming to Terms with a Modern Society, 1970 to the
> Present
> >
> > The magazine is, of course, published by the Virginia Historical Society
> in Richmond.
> >
> > Craig Kilby
> >
> >
> > On Sep 22, 2009, at 5:33 PM, Ian Welch wrote:
> >
> > >... All of which led me to look at the Episcopal Church in broad detail
> from the Revolution to the Civil War and the rise and decline of
> evangelicalism among Episcopalians over the years. I have been looking in
> general terms at wider Episcopalian issues along the way.
> > >
> > >
> > >Ian Welch, Canberra
> >
> >
> > ______________________________________
> > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions
> at
> > http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html (
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html)
> >
>
>
> --
>
> (Dr) Ian Welch, Australian National University, Canberra
>
>
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html