{"product_id":"a-blessed-company-parishes-parsons-and-parishioners-in-anglican-virginia-16901776-9780807826638","title":"A Blessed Company: Parishes  Parsons  and Parishioners in Anglican Virginia  1690-1776","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this book  John Nelson reconstructs everyday Anglican religious practice and experience in Virginia from the end of the seventeenth century to the start of the American Revolution. Challenging previous characterizations of the colonial Anglican establishment as weak  he reveals the fundamental role the church played in the political  social  and economic as well as the spiritual lives of its parishioners.  Drawing on extensive research in parish and county records and other primary sources  Nelson describes Anglican Virginias parish system  its parsons  its rituals of worship and rites of passage  and its parishioners varied relationships to the church. All colonial Virginians  men and women  rich and poor  young and old  planters and merchants  servants and slaves  dissenters and freethinkers  belonged to a parish. As such  they were subject to its levies  its authority over marriage  and other social and economic dictates. In addition to its religious functions  the parish provided essential care for the poor  collaborated with the courts to handle civil disputes  and exerted its influence over many other aspects of community life.  A Blessed Company demonstrates that  by creatively adapting Anglican parish organization and the language  forms  and modes of Anglican spirituality to the Chesapeakes distinctive environmental and human conditions  colonial Virginians sustained a remarkably effective and faithful Anglican church in the Old Dominion.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45960545468469,"sku":"ByrdShop_0807826634","price":265.38,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780807826638.jpg?v=1788290494","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/a-blessed-company-parishes-parsons-and-parishioners-in-anglican-virginia-16901776-9780807826638","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}