Natchez — On Wednesday evenings this summer, Trinity Episcopal Church will offer a special series of seven lectures on Episcopal Church History by Dr. Edward L. Bond. They began on June 10 with a review of the Church of England in Colonial America and conclude on July 29 with an examination of the church in the early and mid-20th century.

Bond is widely recognized as one of the pre-eminent scholars of the Episcopal Church in early America. He holds degrees from The College of William and Mary, the University of Chicago, and Louisiana State University.

Bond is a professor of history at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, Ala., and he teaches Episcopal Church History in the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. He also serves as editor of Anglican & Episcopal History, the quarterly journal of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church. He and his wife Kathleen are parishioners of Trinity Church in Natchez.

Bond’s books include Damned Souls in a Tobacco Colony: Religion in Seventeenth-Century Virginia and Spreading the Gospel in Colonial Virginia, a collection of sermons and devotional writings. His published articles include “Source of Knowledge, Source of Power: The Supernatural World of English Virginia, 1607-1624,” published in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.

In 2007 the Virginia Historical Society collaborated with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia to produce an exhibit on the 400th anniversary of the Episcopal Church in Virginia, and they commissioned an accompanying publication, “The Episcopal Church in Virginia, 1607-2007,” that was co-authored by Edward L. Bond and Joan R. Gunderson.

Last year, Bond participated in an initiative by the Episcopal Church to examine how the church in each diocese was complicit in, and benefited from, the institution of slavery. His findings, which were presented at a symposium presented in January 2008 as part of the Diocese’s Annual Council meeting in Natchez, were subsequently published in Anglican & Episcopal History as “Slavery in the Diocese of Mississippi’s Convention Journals, 1826-1863.” A follow-up session will take place this fall as part of the biennial Historic Natchez Conference.

“It is important for us to learn about the history of our church so we can understand the context for today’s issues and challenges,” said the Rev. Chip Davis, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church.

The public is invited to attend the Wednesday night eucharist service with unction that is held in the church nave each week at 5:30 p.m., and to Professor Bond’s talks which will follow at 6:30 p.m. in the dining room of Kuehnle Hall. Each talk will last approximately 45 minutes. No lecture is scheduled for July 8th.