Tomorrow is Yale Apostasy Day. On 13th September 1722, the day after commencement at Yale, seven New England Congregationalist ministers publicly declared their intention to seek episcopal orders in the Church of England. Four of the seven were ordained deacon and presbyter in the Church of England the following year, with three returning to minister in America. For New England's Congregationalist establishment, it was indeed 'apostasy', a rejection of the 'New England Way' and the introduction of the Church of England to the land of the Pilgrim Fathers. Central to the 'Yale Apostasy' was Samuel Johnson. Having previously taught at Yale, he became minister of a nearby Congregationalist church in 1720. Influencing his thinking was a significant figure in the late 17th/early 18th century Church of Ireland, William King, Bishop of Derry 1691-1703 and Archbishop of Dunlin 1703-29. In his Life of Samuel Johnson , Thomas Bradbury Chandler - a protege of Johnson an...
Protestant Episcopalian - Burkean - clerk in holy orders