The United Synod of the South: The Southern New School Presbyterian Church

by Harold M. Parker Jr.

Overview

In histories of American Presbyterianism, the southern branch of the New School Church has received little attention despite its importance to church history as a whole. This new study provides a complete account of the southern church, tracing the events and controversies that led to schism, the founding of the United Synod, and eventual reunification with the Old School, South.

The author begins by reviewing the causes of the original and Old School-New School schism of 1837-1838 and the circumstances that gradually deepened the separation between the northern and southern wings of the New School. The emergence of United Synod of the South and its activities in the antebellum period and during the Civil War are considered next. The author concludes with a discussion of the final union with the Southern Presbyterian Church in 1864 and assesses the reasons why the southern New School/United Synod failed to grow and reach the potential of other Presbyterian churches of that day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313262890
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/02/1988
Series:	Contributions to the Study of Religion , #20
Pages:	363
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

HAROLD M. PARKER, Jr., is former Chairman of the Graduate Council, past Chairman of the Division of Social Sciences, and Emeritus Professor of History at Western State College of Colorado, Gunnison.

Table of Contents

The Great Division of 1837-1838
The Years of Decision in the South
Southern New School Ecclesiastical Development
The New School Denomination Emerges, 1840-1857
The Southern New School Develops
The New School Deals With Slavery
The Division of 1857
The Richmond Convention
The Knoxville Meeting and Aftermath
The United Synod Polity and Leaders
The United Synod at Work, Antebellum
The Years of the War
Reunions with the Old School
Post war Reactions to the Union
Results of the Union
The United Synod of the South: An Appraisal