The Anglican Church in Grahamstown 1830-1870 : a study of the experience of the parishioners in the development of the tradition

Abstract

A social history of Grahamstown between the years of 1830-1870. Tracing the relationship of the parishioners of the diocese with the "English Church", which developed into a formative part of the world-wide Anglican communion as the Church of the Province of South Africa after 1870. The study tries to gauge the extent of external influences on the settlers after 1830 both socio-political and ecclesiological and especially with the growth of the influence of the Tractarians after the arrival of Gray as first bishop. In the light of the later developments when the churches became 'trapped in apartheid', the study attempts to show that this was a time when a degree of independence in church/state relations church was achieved but the division between settler church and mission church became a reality. The study also engages in discussion of the relationship between a church and generalist historiography.