Katherine C. Engel

“Breaking Ties” is a study of Protestant communities in the British Atlantic during the era of the American Revolution. That conflict came on the heels of a long era of internationalization within Protestantism, which had resulted in strong ties between coreligionists in Britain, America, and Europe. Many of these networks had deep institutional roots in the British Empire. The Revolution forced each of these religious communities—denominations as well as other groups—to reconsider its ties, both within and across communities and also to the wider idea of international Protestantism. This study investigates those reconsiderations, tracing the nature of international Protestant community and its relationship to political identity at the dawn of the modern era.