The Tumultuous Birth of The Episcopal Church with The Rev. Robert W. Prichard, Ph.D.

The Rev. Robert W. Prichard will discuss the various crises facing churches and clergy, particularly those of the Anglican Church, during the Revolutionary War. Hear about the church’s decline and ultimate revival with the development of what is now The Episcopal Church following the war.

The Rev. Prichard is a graduate of Princeton (A.B.), Yale Divinity School (M.Div.) and Emory University (Ph.D. in church history). He is an ordained minister of The Episcopal Church and served three different parishes in Virginia before joining the faculty of the Virginia Theological Seminary, where he taught church history and related subjects from 1983 to 2019. He is now an emeritus professor. A Spanish major at Princeton, he founded the first Spanish-language Episcopal congregation in Virginia and assisted in the founding of two others. The Rev. Prichard is the author or editor of ten books, including “A History of The Episcopal Church,” of which there have now been five editions: three in English, and one each in Spanish and Japanese. He is a former president of the Historical Society of The Episcopal Church and is currently the chair of the Consultation on Common Texts and the vice president of the Middlesex (Virginia) Museum and Historical Society.

Admission: Free. Donations welcome at the door.
Registration: Please RSVP here.

This event is part of Summer Talks, held on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in the Chapel
The 2026 Summer Talks are four lectures held in the church’s large Chapel building. Each program features distinguished historians of national and international repute discussing the Revolutionary War and religion in the early United States. Full details and registration may be found at https://stdavidschurch.org/archives.

This event is part of St. David’s Celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Learn more about our other activities here.