Abstract
At the beginning of the eighteenth century, a significant change emerged in the style and content of sermons in the Church of England. Sermons focused less on sin and the threat of eternal punishment, features of the seventeenth century, and more on how to live a rational and agreeable life. These alterations occurred both because of political changes following the Hanoverian succession accompanied by the rise of the Whigs and also from the influence of the Enlightenment. These transformations arose not only in England but in her American colonies as well, primarily in the Middle Atlantic colonies. Large numbers of printed sermons arrived in colonial America, especially in Philadelphia, the focus of this analysis. Also, colonial men seeking ordination had to spend a significant amount of time in England and as a result became familiar with the new preaching style. This paper examines those changes in the Church of England and then demonstrates the corresponding shifts in colonial pulpits. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, sermon tone and substance reverted to the earlier characteristics both in England and the former colonies, largely the result of the Evangelical Revival, leaving behind the calm and restrained qualities of the eighteenth. Thus, outside political and internal church influences helped shape the content and style of preaching the England and the colonies.
First Page
1
Last Page
23
Recommended Citation
Levis, Barry. "Transatlantic Sermonizing: The Influence of Changing Sermon Styles in Britain on Anglican Clergy in Colonial Philadelphia." Sermon Studies 7.1 () : 1-23. https://mds.marshall.edu/sermonstudies/vol7/iss1/1
