Anglican Church of Canada, Anglican Church of Canada -- History -- Congresses, Anglican Communion, Canada -- Church history, Anglican Church of Canada -- Western Canada -- History -- Congresses, Anglican Communion -- Western Canada -- History -- Congresses, Western Canada -- Church history -- Congresses 

"The essays collected here study the Anglican church and its missions in western Canada. They do so from a position that alters and challenges received scholarly opinion (both among explicitly church historians and decidedly secular historians) about the role of the Anglican church at Red River, within Manitoba society, among the Native and non-Native populations, and over the place of women in the church. These essays constitute a bridge between church and secular history concerning the Anglicans in western Canada. Like several other recent attempts to integrate the history of denominations and religions to Canadian society, this collection aims to explore whether and how the study of religious institutions and ideas can be a more obtrusive theme in the mainstream of secular history.

The essays in this collection lead to two broad conclusions about both western Canadian history and the role of the Anglican church in that history. First, the essays confirm that the Anglican church was a bearer of British culture and a subagent of the imperial mission in the west in several peculiar ways. Second, the essays show that church missions and parishes not only aimed to transform their parishioners but also to assist their adaptation and even defend them against civil institutions and secular forces.

This volume is based upon the papers delivered at the "Anglican Church in Western Canadian History" conference, held in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1987."--Back cover.