Download or read book Presbyterian Pluralism written by William J. Weston and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Presbyterian example, William J. Weston argues, shows clearly that "competition" is the only effective kind of pluralism for a church - one that leads neither to institutional paralysis nor to irreconcilable division. Much of the current literature in the sociology of religion sees intradenominational conflict in terms of "culture wars" between two great factions or parties.
Download or read book The Pluralistic Vision written by Milton J. Coalter and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays in this valuable book examine the results of research on theological education in the twentieth century, spiritual formation among seminarians, and the changing nature of Presbyterian-related colleges. Several essays review Christian education among Presbyterians, focusing on the forming of curricula and publications from denominational presses. Through its examination of American Presbyterianism, the Presbyterian Presence series illuminates patterns of change in mainstream Protestantism and American religious and cultural life in the twentieth century.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Presbyterianism written by Gary Scott Smith and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-01 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presbyterianism emerged during the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It spread from the British Isles to North America in the early eighteenth century. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Presbyterian denominations grew throughout the world. Today, there are an estimated 35 million Presbyterians in dozens of countries. The Oxford Handbook of Presbyterianism provides a state of the art reference tool written by leading scholars in the fields of religious studies and history. These thirty five articles cover major facets of Presbyterian history, theological beliefs, worship practices, ecclesiastical forms and structures, as well as important ethical, political, and educational issues. Eschewing parochial and sectarian triumphalism, prominent scholars address their particular topics objectively and judiciously.
Download or read book Karl Barth and American Evangelicalism written by Bruce L. McCormack and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2011-08-17 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Papers presented at a conference held June 22-24, 2007 in Princeton, N.J.
Download or read book The Gospel of Church written by Janine Giordano Drake and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-09-29 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From the end of the Civil War until the early twentieth century, Anglo, immigrant, and African American settlers were moving north and west faster than ministers within the major denominations could follow them with churches. In 1890, Northern Methodists, the largest Protestant denomination, only claimed 3.5 percent of the American population. Roman Catholics claimed 9.9 percent, and African American Baptists, the largest Black denomination, claimed only 18 percent of the African American population. In total, under 30 percent of Americans went to church on a weekly basis. While African American churches served a relatively larger role within their communities, the major white denominations played a minor role in the lives of the working poor. Clergymen like Dwight Moody reflected, "The gulf between the churches and the mases is growing deeper, wider and darker every hour." Home missionaries like Josiah Strong warned, "Few appreciate how we have become a non-churchgoing-people." Strong was right. In large fractions of the country, especially mining and industrial centers in the West, a simple lack of church edifices and long-term ministers to fundraise for them gave way to a vacuum of Protestant, denominational authority. In part, this disconnect between the number of churches and the size of the population was a result of culturally dislocated migrants. In 1890, more than 9 million Americans were foreign-born, and only a small fraction of those Americans had any familiarity with Anglo-Protestant traditions. They were joined by another 1 million African Americans migrants from the South to northern industrial centers. But this was only one of many reasons the poor did not go to church with the wealthy. While middle-class families paid lip service to the importance of building capacious churches, their own policies and practices reinforced the class system. As one minister reflected in 1887, "The working men are largely estranged from the Protestant religion. Old churches standing in the midst of crowded districts are continually abandoned because they do not reach the workingmen." Meanwhile, he continued, "Go into an ordinary church on Sunday morning and you see lawyers, physicians, merchants and business men with their families [-]you see teachers, salesmen, and clerks, and a certain proportion of educated mechanics, but the workingman and his household are not there." As the working-classes swelled with the expansion of American factories, ordained Protestant ministers served an ever-dwindling proportion of the country"--
Download or read book Robert E Speer written by John F. Piper and published by Geneva Press. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a thorough yet easy-to-read biography of one of the major figures in Presbyterian and ecumenical church history. During the course of his forty-six-year career as Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Robert Speer shaped church policy, increased Presbyterian funding of world missions, and influenced many church leaders, including John D. Rockefeller Jr., Henry Sloane Coffin, and John Mackay. Pastors, laity, professors, and students interested in the history of mission work and ecumenical relations will be interested in the life and accomplishments of this influential Presbyterian.
Download or read book The Re forming Tradition written by Milton J. Coalter and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book challenges American Presbyterians to remember their calling as Christians. The author believes that Presbyterians are summoned to a character of life that will awaken and address the religious questions of today with powerful and persuasive Christian perspectives and answers. By recognizing again the message of the good news of the gospel and by speaking directly to our world, the authors tell how American Presbyterians can recover their identity as Reformed Christians and continue to make a creative contribution to the witness of the church in the world. Through its examination of American Presbyterianism, the Presbyterian Presence series illuminates patterns of change in mainstream Protestantism and American religious and cultural life in the twentieth century.
Download or read book Protestant Pluralism written by Ralph Stevens and published by Studies in Modern British Reli. This book was released on 2018-08-10 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1689 Toleration Act marked a profound shift in the English religious landscape. By permitting the public worship of Protestant Dissenters, the statute laid the foundations for legal religious pluralism, albeit limited, and ensured that eighteenth-century English society would be multi-denominational. However, the Act was rushed, incomplete and on many issues fundamentally ambiguous. It therefore threw up numerous practical difficulties for the clergy of the Church of England, who were deeply divided about what the legislation implied. This book explores how the Church reacted to the legal establishment of a multi-denominational religious environment and how it came to terms with religious pluralism. Thanks to the Toleration Act's inherent ambiguity, there was genuine confusion over how far it extended. The book examines how the practicalities of toleration and pluralism were worked out in the decades after 1689. A series of five case studies addresses: political participation; the movement for the reformation of manners; baptism; education; and the use of chapels. These studies illustrate how the Toleration Act influenced the lived experiences of the clergy and the effects that it had on their pastoral role. The book places the Act in its broader context, at the end of England's 'long Reformation', and emphasises how, far from representing a defining constitutional moment, the Act heralded a process of experimentation, debate and adjustment. RALPH STEVENS is a Tutor in History at University College Dublin.
Download or read book The Reverend Mark Matthews written by Dale E. Soden and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2013-11-21 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Reverend Mark Allison Matthews died in February 1940, thousands of mourners gathered at a Seattle church to pay their final respects. The Southern-born Presbyterian came to Seattle in 1902. He quickly established himself as a city leader and began building a congregation that was eventually among the nation’s largest, with nearly 10,000 members. Throughout his career, he advocated Social Christianity, a blend of progressive reform and Christian values, as a blueprint for building a morally righteous community. In telling Matthews’s story, Dale Soden presents Matthews’s multiple facets: a Southern-born, fundamentalist proponent of the Social Gospel; a national leader during the tumultuous years of schism within the American Presbyterian church; a social reformer who established day-care centers, kindergartens, night classes, and soup kitchens; a colorful figure who engaged in highly public and heated disputes with elected officials. Much of the controversy that surrounded Matthews centered on the proper relationship between church and state — an issue that is still hotly debated.
Download or read book Confident Pluralism written by John D. Inazu and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-08-03 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the three years since Donald Trump first announced his plans to run for president, the United States seems to become more dramatically polarized and divided with each passing month. There are seemingly irresolvable differences in the beliefs, values, and identities of citizens across the country that too often play out in our legal system in clashes on a range of topics such as the tensions between law enforcement and minority communities. How can we possibly argue for civic aspirations like tolerance, humility, and patience in our current moment? In Confident Pluralism, John D. Inazu analyzes the current state of the country, orients the contemporary United States within its broader history, and explores the ways that Americans can—and must—strive to live together peaceably despite our deeply engrained differences. Pluralism is one of the founding creeds of the United States—yet America’s society and legal system continues to face deep, unsolved structural problems in dealing with differing cultural anxieties and differing viewpoints. Inazu not only argues that it is possible to cohabitate peacefully in this country, but also lays out realistic guidelines for our society and legal system to achieve the new American dream through civic practices that value toleration over protest, humility over defensiveness, and persuasion over coercion. With a new preface that addresses the election of Donald Trump, the decline in civic discourse after the election, the Nazi march in Charlottesville, and more, this new edition of Confident Pluralism is an essential clarion call during one of the most troubled times in US history. Inazu argues for institutions that can work to bring people together as well as political institutions that will defend the unprotected. Confident Pluralism offers a refreshing argument for how the legal system can protect peoples’ personal beliefs and differences and provides a path forward to a healthier future of tolerance, humility, and patience.
Download or read book Leading from the Center written by William J. Weston and published by Geneva Press. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: InLeading from the Center, sociologist William Weston provides an enlightening look at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the tensions that exist between key groups in the denomination. Weston defines the key groups as conservatives, liberals, and loyalists and structures his view of the denomination around the third group. Defining "loyalists" as the largest and those who have no wish to see the denomination split apart, Weston argues that while conservatives may consider splitting the church over doctrinal issues and liberals may consider splitting the church over social issues, the loyalists want to work for peace and unity in an effort to hold the church together. His in-depth analysis examines the "left" and "right" sides of the church and their competition to win the loyalist center to their respective sides. Meticulously researched but engaging and insightful,Leading from the Centeris a concise sketch of the denomination that is often surprising and always revealing.
Download or read book John Witherspoon s American Revolution written by Gideon Mailer and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2016-11-23 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1768, John Witherspoon, Presbyterian leader of the evangelical Popular party faction in the Scottish Kirk, became the College of New Jersey's sixth president. At Princeton, he mentored constitutional architect James Madison; as a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress, he was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. Although Witherspoon is often thought to be the chief conduit of moral sense philosophy in America, Mailer's comprehensive analysis of this founding father's writings demonstrates the resilience of his evangelical beliefs. Witherspoon's Presbyterian evangelicalism competed with, combined with, and even superseded the civic influence of Scottish Enlightenment thought in the British Atlantic world. John Witherspoon's American Revolution examines the connection between patriot discourse and long-standing debates--already central to the 1707 Act of Union--about the relationship among piety, moral philosophy, and political unionism. In Witherspoon's mind, Americans became different from other British subjects because more of them had been awakened to the sin they shared with all people. Paradoxically, acute consciousness of their moral depravity legitimized their move to independence by making it a concerted moral action urged by the Holy Spirit. Mailer's exploration of Witherspoon's thought and influence suggests that, for the founders in his circle, civic virtue rested on personal religious awakening.
Download or read book Pulpit and Politics written by Corwin E. Smidt and published by Baylor University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pulpit and Politics presents the most current and comprehensive examination of the religious beliefs and political behavior of American clergy at the advent of the new millennium. Based on data gathered during the 2000 Presidential election, this study examines the relationship between belief and behavior, theology and politics, religious commitments and social activism from African-American, Baptist, Jewish, Mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic and other religious groups. Pulpit and Politics is a treasure trove of historical, comparative and statistical information about the political behavior of America's clergy.
Download or read book Conversations with the Confessions written by Joseph D. Small and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fourteen Presbyterian scholars enter into conversations with the confessions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and examine the major theological themes that make the confessions such foundational commitments of faith. This collection of insightful essays provides readers with a clear understanding of the confessions from different periods of the church's life. These conversations with the confessions found in the PC(USA)'s Book of Confessions include some illuminating commentary on why they were written and demonstrate how they can be used to address major theological issues. This important work will help scholars, pastors, and church leaders interested in studying the Reformed tradition appreciate the role of the confessions in shaping Christian life and faith today.
Download or read book Stewards of Our Heritage written by Virginia F. Rainey and published by Geneva Press. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first history of the Presbyterian Historical Society is a thorough, well-researched presentation.
Download or read book American Denominational History written by Keith Harper and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2008-09-24 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work brings various important topics and groups in American religious history the rigor of scholarly assessment of the current literature. The fruitful questions that are posed by the positions and experiences of the various groups are carefully examined. American Denominational History points the way for the next decade of scholarly effort. Contents Roman Catholics by Amy Koehlinger Congregationalists by Margaret Bendroth Presbyterians by Sean Michael Lucas American Baptists by Keith Harper Methodists by Jennifer L. Woodruff Tait Black Protestants by Paul Harvey Mormons by David J. Whittaker Pentecostals by Randall J. Stephens Evangelicals by Barry Hankins
Download or read book American Evangelicals in Egypt written by Heather J. Sharkey and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-07-28 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1854, American Presbyterian missionaries arrived in Egypt as part of a larger Anglo-American Protestant movement aiming for worldwide evangelization. Protected by British imperial power, and later by mounting American global influence, their enterprise flourished during the next century. American Evangelicals in Egypt follows the ongoing and often unexpected transformations initiated by missionary activities between the mid-nineteenth century and 1967--when the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War uprooted the Americans in Egypt. Heather Sharkey uses Arabic and English sources to shed light on the many facets of missionary encounters with Egyptians. These occurred through institutions, such as schools and hospitals, and through literacy programs and rural development projects that anticipated later efforts of NGOs. To Egyptian Muslims and Coptic Christians, missionaries presented new models for civic participation and for women's roles in collective worship and community life. At the same time, missionary efforts to convert Muslims and reform Copts stimulated new forms of Egyptian social activism and prompted nationalists to enact laws restricting missionary activities. Faced by Islamic strictures and customs regarding apostasy and conversion, and by expectations regarding the proper structure of Christian-Muslim relations, missionaries in Egypt set off debates about religious liberty that reverberate even today. Ultimately, the missionary experience in Egypt led to reconsiderations of mission policy and evangelism in ways that had long-term repercussions for the culture of American Protestantism.
