Numerous regions of the Anglican Communion are topics of study in the latest issue of Anglican & Episcopal History (AEH). Studies examine missionaries’ archived sources for Kenya and Nigeria, parish history in Tanganyika, and the legacies of Episcopalians in Scotland and Virginia, USA.

Readers can find six thought-provoking, peer-reviewed studies along with fourteen book reviews, an engaged history article, two church reviews, and two articles detailing historic preservation work in Tennessee and New York in the September issue of AEH.

Academic studies in the issue are:

“A Range of Responses: Anglican Missionaries during the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya” by Samuel J. Richards

Samuel J. Richards’ study challenges a commonly accepted assumption that Anglican missionaries worked lockstep with British imperial officials in Kenya Colony during the Mau Mau Uprising of the 1950s.

By examining the actions of three Church Missionary Society (CMS) clergy – Neville Langford-Smith (1910–1993), Cecil Bewes (1902–1992), and Howard J. Church (1904–1984) – Richards concludes that “The range of responses among colonial clergy suggests that ecclesiastical reactions to Mau Mau were shaped less by colonial era privileges than by individual personalities and theological interpretations.” Richards argues that “Attributing contemporary action or inaction in churches to colonial vestiges fails to acknowledge the dynamism of individuals’ personalities and theological views. It robs Kenyans of agency.”

Richards is high school head of social sciences at the International School of Kenya in Nairobi where he teaches International Baccalaureate (IB) History and Theory of Knowledge. He is a contributing author to Authoritarian Rule since 1750 CE (Pearson, 2026) and Popular Movements from 1750 CE: Case Studies from East and West Africa (Aga Khan Academies, 2026).

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“Negotiating Religion from the Top: Hegemony and Anonymity of African Kings in the Encounters of Church MIssionary Society Niger Missionaries in the Middle Belt of Nigeria, 1841-1930” by Kefas Lemak

Kefas Lemak investigates the strange contradiction in CMS missionary accounts from the Middle Belt of Nigeria that emphasize the hegemony and power of African kings while leaving those powerful kings unnamed in records.

“In colonial studies, African studies, and historical studies of Nigeria, much scholarship has focused on the hegemony of African kings and chiefs,” according to Lemak. “However, little attention has been given in African and religious studies to the polar opposite of this perception: although African kings are situated as important figures, the names of African kings and chiefs were mentioned only a few times in missionary and colonial writings, such as reports, journals, and narratives.” Lemak combed the journals of missionaries James Frederick Schon, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, and William Fortunatus John to explore this pattern.

Lemak is a faculty specialist at Western Michigan University where he teaches classes on the History of Christianity and Religion and Health. His research interests include World Christianity, African American Christianity, and African diaspora Christianity.

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“‘Good Works…Follow after Justification’: the Early Modern Anglican use of Augustine of Hippo’s On faith and works” by Erik A. Estrada

Erik A. Estrada argues that Augustine’s On faith and works “provided a definite point of reference for a good number of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, and Anglican theologians and biblical scholars” writing on various topics such as soteriology. This view challenges Suzanne Gatzemeier’s 2013 thesis on the topic.

Estrada focuses his analysis on influences within the Church of England, in particular ways St. Augustine influenced Archbishops of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) and Matthew Parker (1504–1575) as well as Scottish Anglican bishop William Forbes (1580–1634).

Estrada is assistant professor of religion at Texas Christian University. He specializes in the history of Christian soteriology and recently published Faith Alone (Fortress Press, 2026), a book on pre-Reformation debates.

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“The Episcopal Churches in Scotland and the United States of America: A Shared Heritage of Liturgy and Eucharistic Theology” by Brian Douglas

Brian Douglas traces the strong liturgical heritage found in eucharistic theologies of the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church in the United States. He analyzes the theological framework of the 1764 Scottish Communion Office and ways it influenced practices in the United States following the ordination of Connecticut bishop Samuel Seabury’s 1784 agreement with Scottish Episcopalians. Douglas identifies these influences in both the 1786 and 1790 liturgical revisions in the US Episcopal Church.

“This heritage has continued in subsequent editions of the American prayer book, right up to the present prayer book of the Episcopal Church, published in 1979 and revised in 2016, especially in Rite One of the Holy Eucharist,” writes Douglas.

Douglas is a priest in the Anglican Church of Australia and a research professor at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Charles Sturt University, Canberra. He is author of The Eucharist in Scottish Episcopalianism: An Alternate History and Theology (Edinburgh University Press, 2026).

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“Henry Scougal’s Episcopalian Identity: Patristics, Priesthood, and Sacrament" by David Neal Greenwood

David Neal Greenwood writes that, “more than most theologians, Henry Scougal (1650–1678) has been subjected to tendentious historical revision, routinely being portrayed as either a theological liberal or a Puritan.”

Greenwood weighs in on the debate regarding which groups should claim the author of The Life of God in the Soul of Man (1676-1677) as their own. He writes that “Scougal and his work are prizes worth taking for those seeking to articulate a version of history that suits their denominational perspective. Yet attempts to appropriate Scougal as one of their own fail when the primary sources are consulted and properly understood.” His investigation works to correct distortions in the record.

Greenwood teaches in the Classics and Religious Studies Department at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a priest in Scottish orders.

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“The Glebe of Fairfax Parish, Virginia” by Charleen Smith-Reidel

Charlene Smith-Reidel traces the complexities and development surrounding glebe lands of Fairfax Parish, Virginia (now the District of Columbia), amid revolutionary change in colonial America.

She writes that, “The Fairfax Parish glebe is exceptional in that the specifications recorded in the vestry book constitute the most complete and detailed work order of any glebe in colonial Virginia. In the rural landscape, dotted with farms, fields, and few scattered settlements, both churches and glebe properties became notable landmarks, signaling to travelers the wealth and status of the parish. This glebe in Fairfax Parish was also among the last to be completed before  the start of the American Revolution. It would become a model to showcase the disestablishment of the Church of England in Virginia over the next fifty years.”

Smith-Reidel earned her degree in Vokskunde at the Universität in Freiburg, Germany. She is currently researching and writing on folklore and has been published in the Smithsonian Folklife Magazine.

Engaged History: “Archiving Parish Histories in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika” by Tulibako C. Mwakasege

Tulibako C. Mwakasege chronicles historical research in three Dodoma-based parishes as part of the project Archiving Parish Histories in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika. It forms part of Mwakasege’s larger research study “The Contribution of the Anglican Church on Gender Equality: the Case of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, 1960s–2020,” which was supported by a research grant from the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church.

Mwakasege writes, “Our exploration of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika’s history took us deep into vestries, parish offices, and even personal homes where records had been quietly kept for decades. The primary sources were the parish archives themselves: baptismal, confirmation, marriage, and burial registers, some dating back to the early 1960s. I also found valuable correspondence between clergy, diocesan circulars, and handwritten minutes of early parish councils. Oral histories played an equally vital role; elderly parishioners and long-serving clergy helped reconstruct stories that had never been written down.”

These studies along with exhibit and book reviews are available in the latest issue of Anglican & Episcopal History. AEH is the peer-reviewed journal of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church. It is published quarterly. For subscription information visit hsec.us/membership.