Southern Gothic: antebellum ecclesiology in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi
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Date
02/10/2013Item status
Restricted AccessEmbargo end date
31/12/2100Author
McNair, Michael Stephen
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Abstract
The primary focus of the thesis is to examine and explain the architectural, religious, and
anthropological occurrences that influenced the implementation of ecclesiology in
Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana in the period prior to the American Civil War in
1861. Architectural, religious, and cultural developments in the region have been
considered within the context of Romanticism, Cotton Capitalism, provincial
architectural taste and climatic conditions, socioeconomic placement of the gentry
planter class, and the liturgical developments within the Episcopal Church. The
Episcopal Church was the only denomination interested in the development of the
Gothic Revival and the High Church influences in the largely evangelical region creates
a question of purpose. Aside from liturgical requirements, issues of taste and refinement
are associated with the Gothic form and are therefore associated with the educated and
wealthy Episcopal congregants. This thesis examines the information beyond any
existing literature and explains how and why a variation of ecclesiology was
implemented in certain Episcopal parishes in the Gulf South.
The methodology for creating an argument for antebellum ecclesiology concentrates on
primary sources and fieldwork. The first hand accounts of both natives and travellers in
the region, the reports from the clergy, and the writings from the Episcopal planter class,
all infuse to create a clear understanding of the development of the Gothic Revival and
the purpose, both religiously and socially, of the style. The influence of the Oxford
Movement and the English ecclesiologists is also considered when evaluating the
transatlantic relationship between the American Church and Southern Anglophiles in
relation to the Church of England. The theological and humanistic understanding of
mankind within the confines of a slave-based economy also influenced the decision of
the planter class to gravitate towards the Episcopal Church and establish an architectural
presence unique to their social and economic level. Ecclesiology embodied the
refinement and social position of the Episcopal Church, creating a visible and psychical
manifestation of High Church principles suited for the gentry slaveholding class. By
examining the architectural models of the early Episcopal Church in the Gulf South, this
data establishes a pattern of the Church supporting the Gothic Revival and, in some
circumstances, following the principles of ecclesiology.