This document is a dissertation submitted by Donald Dean Parker to the Faculty of the Divinity School at The University of Chicago in August 1936 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The work provides an in-depth analysis of the contentious relationship between the Catholic Church and the government in the Philippines during a pivotal transition period from 1896 to 1906. This decade encompasses the final years of Spanish colonial rule, the Philippine Revolution, the Spanish-American War, and the early period of American governance. It details the deep-seated grievances of Filipinos against the Spanish friars and the colonial system, documenting the rise of nationalist movements like the Katipunan. It further explores the religious and political upheaval following the American arrival, notably the complex issue of the Friar Estates and the subsequent schism leading to the founding of the Philippine Independent Catholic Church (Aglipayanism). The dissertation is relevant to national and ecclesiastical history as a foundational academic study of a critical period of political and religious formation in the Philippines.
Church and State in the Philippines, 1896-1906