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During the first six decades of the last century, the so-called mainline Protestant denominations in America were compelled to accommodate to the growing influences of diverse religions and growing secularization. In this book, twelve historians examine the nature of the American Protestant establishment and its response to the growing pluralism of the times. The goals of the establishment are first examined from the inside, as they were voiced from the pulpit, expressed in education and through the media, and applied in ecumenical and social-reforming ventures. The establishment is then viewed through the eyes of outsiders - Jews and Catholics - and those at the periphery of the establishment's core - and women. The authors conclude that the period surveyed forms a distinct epoch in the evolution of American Protestantism. The days when Protestant cultural authority could be taken for granted were certainly over, but a new era in which religious pluralism would be widely accepted had not yet arrived.
List of contents
Preface: from Protestant to pluralist America; Part I. Introduction: 1. Protestantism as establishment William R. Hutchison; Part II. The Protestant Agenda: Old Business: 2. The pulpit and the pews Edwin S. Gaustad; 3. Ministry on the margin: Protestants and education Dorothy C. Bass; 4. Reaching out: mainline protestantism and the media Dennis N. Voskuil; Part III. The Protestant Agenda: Matters Arising: 5. Voice of many waters: church federation in the twentieth century Robert A. Schneider; 6. The reform establishment and the ambiguities of influence William McGuire King; Part IV. Outsiders and 'Junior Partners': 7. United and slighted: women as subordinated insiders Virginia Lieson Brereton; 8. An enduring distance: Black Americans and the establishment David W. Wills; 9. A wary collaboration: Jews, Catholics, and the Protestant Goodwill movement Benny Kraut; Part V. External Challenges: 10. Secularization: religion and the social sciences R. Laurence Moore; 11. A plural world: the Protestant awakening to world religions Grant Wacker; 12. The rise of the 'New Evangelicalism': shock and adjustment Mark Silk; Part VI. Conclusion: 13. Discovering America William R. Hutchison; Index.
Summary
During the first sixty years of the last century, the so-called mainline Protestant denominations in the USA were compelled to accommodate to the influences of diverse religions and growing secularization. Here twelve historians examine the American Protestant establishment and its response to the growing pluralism of the times.
