Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts The Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the five western counties of Massachusetts. Formed from a division of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, it was officially recognized at the organizing convention of November 10, 1901. At a special meeting on January 22, 1902, Alexander Hamilton Vinton, Rector of All Saints Church in Worcester, Massachusetts. was elected first diocesan bishop. The first two Anglican parishes in what would become the diocese were started in Great Barrington in 1762 and Lanesborough in 1767 on
Biblical authority Rogers and McKim, constituted a 19th-century innovation. Woodbridge challenged this thesis in his 1982 book "Biblical Authority: A Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal", arguing that for each of those categories, God's Word has authority and is without error. Moreover, Woodbridge asserted that this particular view of biblical authority had been the normative, orthodox position throughout the history of Christianity. Biblical authority The term biblical authority refers to the extent to which commandments and doctrines within the Old and New Testament scriptures are authoritative over humans' belief and conduct, as well as the extent to which Biblical propositions are accurate in