Tyng, Stephen Higginson

(Mar. 1, 1800-Sept. 3, 1885). Leading evangelical. He was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Tyng graduated from Harvard College in 1817. He then studied for the ordained ministry under Bishop Alexander V. Griswold. He was ordained deacon on Mar. 4, 1821, and priest on Jan. 28, 1824. Tyng began his ministry as rector of St. John's Church, Georgetown, in Washington, D.C., 1821-1823. From 1823 to 1829 he was rector of Queen Anne's Parish, Prince George County, Maryland. He then moved to Philadelphia, where he was rector of St. Paul's Church, 1829-1834, and then rector of the Church of the Epiphany, 1834-1845. He was rector of St. George's Church, New York, 1845-1878. Tyng was recognized as one of the great preachers in the Episcopal Church in the nineteenth century. St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, was nicknamed “Tyng's Theatre.” He was a supporter of the Sunday Church School movement. He used the Sunday Schools to teach the Bible and to prepare people for conversion. Tyng was a militant evangelical, opposed to both the high church party and the broad church movement. He made St. George's Church a pioneer parish in missionary work among the poor. Tyng supported the founding of the Virginia Theological Seminary. He stressed that revivals were the primary way to bring people to Christ. He was editor of the Episcopal Recorder in Philadelphia and the Protestant Churchman in New York. Even though he was a leading evangelical, he opposed the schism of the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1873. Tyng died in Irving-on-Hudson, New York.