Record #:

10677

Author(s):

Hardesty, Fred

Abstract:

Bath's St. Thomas Episcopal Church, North Carolina's oldest church in its oldest town, was not merely the center of religious study in the community. Like most early American denominations, it was also the local community's primary center of discipline and legal recourse. Most churches forbade its members from taking a fellow member to court before \"gospel steps\" had been taken. As the antebellum period progressed and the church began to gradually lose control of its members, church courts became less and less effective.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 37 Issue 5, Aug 1969, p11-12, il

Subject(s):

Ecclesiastical courts