The American Church that Might Have Been

The American Church that Might Have Been PDF Author: Keith Watkins
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1625644310
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
During a forty-year period ending in 2002, leaders of major American churches tried to unite their members, ministries, and public service in a new church they named A Church of Christ Uniting. Participating in this movement were four Methodist Churches, the Episcopal Church, the nation's largest Presbyterian Church, the United Church of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the International Council of Community Churches. With a membership of close to twenty million, this church would have been spread throughout the nation more fully than any other church except the Roman Catholic. Leaders of the movement believed that this union would enable church members to experience their Christian life more fully. It would heal divisions that had existed since the Protestant Reformation 450 years earlier and displace the denominational system that was increasingly dysfunctional. By coming together in a new way, these churches could work more effectively at overcoming problems in American life--especially the challenges related to racism. Although the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) closed before converting its vision into a new form of the church, it had a significant effect on these churches and the nation. This is a story that needs to be remembered.

The Stone-Campbell Movement

The Stone-Campbell Movement PDF Author: D. Newell Williams
Publisher: Chalice Press
ISBN: 0827235275
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 678

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Book Description
The Stone-Campbell Movement: A Global History tells the story of Christians from around the globe and across time who have sought to witness faithfully to the gospel of reconciliation. Transcending theological differences by drawing from all the major streams of the movement, this foundational book documents the movement's humble beginnings on the American frontier and growth into international churches of the twenty-first century.

The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement

The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement PDF Author: Douglas A. Foster
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 9780802838988
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 902

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Book Description
"Over ten years in the making, The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement offers for the first time a sweeping historical and theological treatment of this complex, vibrant global communion. Written by more than 300 contributors, this major reference work contains over 700 original articles covering all of the significant individuals, events, places, and theological tenets that have shaped the Movement. Much more than simply a historical dictionary, this volume also constitutes an interpretive work reflecting historical consensus among Stone-Campbell scholars, even as it attempts to present a fair, representative picture of the rich heritage that is the Stone-Campbell Movement."--BOOK JACKET.

God's Ambassadors

God's Ambassadors PDF Author: E. Brooks Holifield
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802803814
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
In God's Ambassadors E. Brooks Holifield masterfully traces the history of America's Christian clergy from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century, analyzing the changes in practice and authority that have transformed the clerical profession. Challenging one-sided depictions of decline in clerical authority, Holifield locates the complex story of the clergy within the context not only of changing theologies but also of transitions in American culture and society. The result is a thorough social history of the profession that also takes seriously the theological presuppositions that have informed clerical activity. With alternating chapters on Protestant and Catholic clergy, the book permits sustained comparisons between the two dominant Christian traditions in American history. At the same time, God's Ambassadors depicts a vocation that has remained deeply ambivalent regarding the professional status marking the other traditional learned callings in the American workplace. Changing expectations about clerical education, as well as enduring theological questions, have engendered a debate about the professional ideal that has distinguished the clerical vocation from such fields as law and medicine. The American clergy from the past four centuries constitute a colorful, diverse cast of characters who have, in ways both obvious and obscure, helped to shape the tone of American culture. For a well-rounded narrative of their story told by a master historian, God's Ambassadors is the book to read.

History and Program (Revised)

History and Program (Revised) PDF Author: Margaret Rowland Post
Publisher: The Pilgrim Press
ISBN: 0829820922
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
"Our world is very different from the world our founders sought to address, in ways our forebears in the 1950s could have hardly imagined. Yet we remain what we have always been at our best, a people bearing witness to a grand moral vision rooted in the Bible and the person of the crucified and risen Christ, and a people of spiritual audacity prepared to risk old assumptions for the sake of new possibilities." - John H. Thomas, former General Minister, and President, United Church of Christ This best-selling, newly revised and updated book shares the: History of the United Church of Christ; Background on its predecessor bodies; Information on its Covenanted Ministries; Explanation of its emblem; and Statement of Faith.

All God's People

All God's People PDF Author: David L. Smith
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725209756
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
'All God's People: A Theology of the Church' sets out a corrective understanding of the nature of the church universal with a focus on implications for the church local. The book is divided into three basic sections: A Historical Theology of the Church surveys the history of theology of the church, beginning with the early church, the formative years for all Christian theology; A Biblical Theology of the Church examines the Old Testament, Gospels, and apostolic sense of the people of God; A Systematic Theology of the Church seeks to both systematize the biblical theology and synthesize it with contemporary thought. Finally, A Practical Theology of the Church concludes the work relating the book's lessons to the contemporary church climate.

An Ex-colored Church

An Ex-colored Church PDF Author: Raymond R. Sommerville
Publisher: Mercer University Press
ISBN: 9780865549036
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church was an important part of the historic freedom struggles of African Americans from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights movement. This fight for equality and freedom can be seen clearly in the denomination's evolving social and ecumenical consciousness. The denomination's very name changed from "Colored" to "Christian" in 1954, but the denomination did not join the struggle late. Rather, the CME was a critical participant from the days following the Civil War. At times, the Church was at odds with their white Methodist counterparts and in solidarity with other African-American denominations on issues of racial desegregation and the role of social protest in religion.Raymond Sommerville's important book discusses the relationship between Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the CME. While King and others received most of the headlines during the Civil Rights Era, the CME proved to be involved at all levels and equally important in all they did. With its strategic location in the South and its long history of ecumenical involvement, the CME Church emerged as a leading advocate of ecumenical civil rights activism. Previous interpretations asserted that the CME was apolitical and accomodationist or that it was more progressive than it was. Sommerville presents a more nuanced account of how a church of largely former slaves emancipated itself from the constraints of white Methodist paternalism and Jim Crow racism to emerge as a progressive force of racial justice and ecumenism in the South and beyond. Sommerville examines major centers of the CME -- Nashville, Birmingham, Memphis, Atlanta -- and selected leaders inthe South in charting the gradual metamorphosis of the former CME as a largely nonpolitical body of former slaves in 1870 to a more politically active denomination at the apex of the modern Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.

The Christian Century

The Christian Century PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Theology
Languages : en
Pages : 704

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Book Description


Faith and Morals

Faith and Morals PDF Author: David Felty
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 9780761801283
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
To find more information about Rowman and Littlefield titles, please visit www.rowmanlittlefield.com.

Coming Together in Christ

Coming Together in Christ PDF Author: Barry L. Callen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780899007830
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
The Bible says there is only one body, the church. How have we become so separated? Can unity ever be achieved. This book will provide information on attempts to do just that. Read about the works that were done between the Churches of Christ and the Christian Churches.