The Episcopal Church is the American concept of the Anglican Community, also known as the Church of England (Arndt 37) . The Anglican Church saw its beginnings during the Sixteenth Century Reformation. During this time several key figures such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Zwingli believed that changes to the Catholic Church were necessary for several reasons including correcting moral corruption, taking power away from the Pope, and bringing about changes to the sociological structure of society. Through changes brought about by these men, as well as others, we saw the birth of several Protestant religions.

Less than one hundred years after the events of the American Revolution, a group of clergy and ordinary citizens led by Bishop Cummins formed the Reformed Episcopal Church in New York City. "It was felt by those in the Reformed Church that the effects of the Oxford Movement in England had altered traditional Protestant churchmanship and that a new Anglo-Catholicism had taken over the American Church" (Harper 92). The belief of these men was that once again there was corruption in the church; basic Protestant principals had been forgotten in the time since the American Revolution. In Reforming the Church, this group of people hoped to "remove the corruption of the present while holding fast to the purity of the Church in prior ages" (Harper 96). Another way of explaining this is that the Reformed Protestants hoped to return to the original position held by the Church of England when it became Protestant.

The Reformed Episcopal Church created the "Declaration of Principles" to establish clear-cut boundaries which their members could not cross. Boundaries include things such as the connection to the Church of England which must be respected, the importance of the Holy Scripture as the primary authority on the Church's faith, and the importance of participating in Church services rather than just attending them. In addition to the Declaration of Principles, a new "Book of Common Prayer" was adopted which "traces its lineage back through the liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church to the liturgy of the Church of England" (Harper 99). These two changes played important roles in the churches ideas and services.

Attending an Episcopal Church service today is probably quite different than it was attending an Anglican Service in the time of Henry VIII. In interviewing Rev Grayson Garvin, I found many of his thoughts and ideas leaning much closer to the Protestant Religion than to the Catholic beliefs upon which the Anglican Church was originally based. Much of the information Rev Garvin spoke about had a very humanistic quality to it such as the ideas of heaven and hell being "not physical places that a person goes to but states of being" (Garvin). Also the idea that the Holy Scriptures are "great sources of information but not always to be taken for their literal meaning. Each person has to find their own meaning in these important words. This is how God intended it" (Garvin). These thoughts seemed much different than the original ideas of the Church of England and more like the Protestant beliefs of other religions. Another interesting concept of the Episcopal Church is their view on salvation. I had read about this belief and it was confirmed when I spoke with the Reverend. Rather than salvation being something that happens to you when you confess your sins or after you die, they look upon it as the idea that sinners are unhealthy and uncentered in their lives. When they begin again to live by God's rules, they are "brought back into the sphere of healthy and whole life" (Krumm 213). Therefore, it is important to live a good life on Earth not in the hopes of happiness in the afterlife, but for the purpose of being a healthy and whole person while you are here. Though Rev Garvin was not able to give me a lot of information o

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