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21-749: In 1717, Presbyterians in the American colonies created the Synod of Philadelphia , which was subdivided into the Philadelphia Presbytery , the Long Island Presbytery , and the New Castle Presbytery . The synod and presbyteries provided oversight and discipline to ministers and churches, and they also ordained ministers. Early on, American Presbyterians were divided by both ethnicity and religious outlook. Some of

42-631: A manner. That year they also created a Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, which was clearly done on a theological split, not a geographical one. In 1765 the Old Side controlled Presbytery of Donegal was split into multiple presbyteries. On account of this perceived violation of their rights and the Plan of Union, the Old Side members of the Presbytery of Donegal withdrew from Synod and Revs. John Ewing and Alexander McDowell, both Old Side ministers, protested

63-529: A portion of western Africa. In 1882, the name was changed to the Synod of Pennsylvania. When the General Assembly decided in 1973 to create regional judicatories, the synod was merged with the Synod of West Virginia to form the Synod of Pennsylvania-West Virginia. Finally, when church reunion occurred in 1983, presbyteries in a portion of eastern Ohio were joined to the synod and the name was changed to

84-646: The Presbyterian Church headquartered in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania . The synod oversees sixteen presbyteries covering all of Pennsylvania , most of West Virginia , and a portion of eastern Ohio . The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America has its roots in the territory of the Synod of the Trinity, which was founded as the Synod of Philadelphia in 1717 following the division of

105-575: The Presbytery of Philadelphia into three presbyteries (Philadelphia, New Castle , and Long Island ), with the synod as a superior body. After the Presbytery of New Brunswick was expelled from the synod in 1741 during a major division in the church, Jonathan Dickinson left the synod in 1745 to form the Synod of New York . An advocate of the Great Awakening , Dickinson founded a seminary that later became Princeton University . The synod

126-565: The New Side doctrine was imposed upon the Presbyteries and became the rule of the Synod. By 1762 disagreement over the plan of union and examination of candidates for the ministry had erupted at synod. The Old Side did not inquire into the candidate's experience to determine his acquaintance with religion, and the New Side minister had done so. The synod decided to leave it up to each presbytery on whether or not to question candidates in such

147-483: The Old Side–New Side conflict today. Historian Joseph Tracy held that the Old Side was saved from drifting into "the dead sea of Arminian inefficiency, and the bottomless gulf of Unitarianism" by reuniting with the New Side in 1758. Others think that there were no doctrinal divisions between the two parties, just ones of methodology. Synod of Philadelphia Synod of the Trinity is an upper judicatory of

168-410: The Presbytery of New York left the Synod of Philadelphia and joined the New Side. The Conjunct Presbytery then became the Synod of New York while the Old Side ministers continued as the Synod of Philadelphia. The factions of the Old Side and New Side did not die down. The Synod of New York had 72 ministers in 1758 when it merged with the Synod of Philadelphia, which had only a little over twenty. Thus,

189-420: The Synod of the Trinity. The Presbyterian Historical Society shows 81 Presbyterian/Reformed historic sites registered within the bounds of the synod. There are sixteen presbyteries in the synod. 40°14′26″N 76°55′59″W  /  40.24043°N 76.93311°W  / 40.24043; -76.93311 Conversion narrative Broadly speaking, a conversion narrative is a narrative that relates

210-469: The beliefs of ministerial candidates, the anti-subscriptionists thought it would be more helpful to examine their personal religious experience. The impasse was resolved with passage of the Adopting Act of 1729 . The Adopting Act was a compromise that required affirmation or "subscription" only for those parts of the confession considered "essential" to the faith. This compromise maintained peace between

231-442: The communion table should be limited to those with saving faith." As Morgan goes on to point out, the adaptation of the conversion narrative as a requirement for church membership "was as important politically as religiously, for it altered not only the character of church membership but the character of freemanship ." Freemanship was restricted to church members and with the adaptation of this requirement for church membership, given

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252-470: The controversy. Points four through seven all deal with consequences of having a different understanding of the Doctrine of Convictions. The Old Side ministers accused the New Side ministers of rashly condemning other Presbyterian ministers as unconverted (point four), of teaching that regularly ordained ministers could do no spiritual good if they were unconverted (point five), of preaching the ' terrors of

273-485: The decision of synod to split Donegal. In the end, the outbreak of the Revolutionary War took center stage and by the end of the war the Synod of New York and Philadelphia dissolved and in 1788 the first General Assembly was formed. The New Hampshire town of Derry seceded in 1827 from its western neighbour, Londonderry , using the boundary that had resulted from the split into east and west parishes during

294-494: The entire congregation of a gathered church before admission as evidence of the applicant's visible sainthood" Edmund S. Morgan describes the typical "morphology of conversion" related in the conversion narrative as involving the stages of "knowledge, conviction, faith, combat, and true, imperfect assurance." The conversion narrative was one of the distinguishing features of the Massachusetts Puritan churches;

315-523: The law ' (point six), and of requiring a conversion narrative and being able to judge the gracious state of an individual by that narrative (point seven). The New Side condemned the Old Side for not requiring narratives or preaching the terrors of the law. Gilbert Tennent at least believed that some ministers were unconverted and that people should not sit under the ministry of an unconverted minister. This comes from his famous sermon, "Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry". There are many different view points on

336-406: The members had Scots-Irish and Scottish backgrounds, while others came from New England. The Scots-Irish party stressed a dogmatic adherence to confessional standards, professional ministry, and the orderly and authoritarian nature of church government. The New England party emphasized "spontaneity, vital impulse, adaptability" and experiential piety . A dispute between these two groups over whether

357-570: The operation of conversion, usually religious. As a specific aspect of American literary and religious history, the conversion narrative was an important facet of Puritan sacred and secular society in New England during a period stretching roughly from 1630 to the end of the First Great Awakening . As defined by Patricia Caldwell, the conversion narrative was "a testimony of personal religious experience…spoken or read aloud to

378-462: The relation of a conversion narrative emphasized their belief in "faith as the essence of the church: and they were to ensure the presence of faith in their members by a screening process that included narratives of religious experiences." In adopting this requirement for membership, Bremer argues that the New England churches were extending the beliefs of their English brethren that "admission to

399-543: The synod should require ministers to affirm the Westminster Confession led to the subscription controversy of the 1720s. The Scots-Irish or subscription party believed that subscription would preserve Reformed orthodoxy from the threat of rationalistic ideas. The New England or anti-subscription party preferred declaring the Bible to be the common standard for faith and practice. Rather than scrutinizing

420-489: The two groups for several years until the First Great Awakening initiated a new round of conflict. For the next several years the Conjunct Presbytery and the Synod of Philadelphia battled in print and over reuniting, with the Presbytery of New York standing in the middle. The Presbytery of New York generally favored the revival, but had doubts about some of the extreme and disorderly actions. Finally, in 1746,

441-580: Was reunited as the Synod of New York and Philadelphia in 1758. By 1851, the synod, then known as the Synod of Philadelphia, was "one of the largest and most influential Synods in the Presbyterian Church, embracing the entire States of Delaware, Maryland, and the greater part of the State of Pennsylvania." By 1881, the synod consisted of nineteen Pennsylvania counties, the City of Philadelphia, and

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