Becoming Mainline: The New Era Movement and Presbyterian Corporatization
Recent fractures and reorganizations have called attention to long-simmering tensions in American mainline denominations. Though historians have rightly traced some of these tensions to "culture wars" proceeding from the 1960s, this article makes a case for examining earlier and perhaps su...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2016
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| In: |
The journal of Presbyterian history
Year: 2016, Volume: 94, Issue: 1, Pages: 4-15 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Recent fractures and reorganizations have called attention to long-simmering tensions in American mainline denominations. Though historians have rightly traced some of these tensions to "culture wars" proceeding from the 1960s, this article makes a case for examining earlier and perhaps subtler sources of conflict. "Denominational forward movements" were multifaceted Protestant reform efforts of the 1910s and 1920s that emphasized streamlined fundraising, top-down organization, and adoption of a corporate idiom. These movements realized notable gains, and were responsible in part for creating the integrated, national institutions that by mid-century would characterize mainline Protestantism. Despite their successes, however, forward movements also generated new resentments and questions. The Presbyterian New Era Movement pitted local pastors and individual boards and agencies against an increasingly aggressive national bureaucracy. Likewise, Presbyterians sometimes found themselves rebuffed by the mainstream business and journalism cultures that they eagerly courted, stoking doubts about the centrality of denominational Protestantism in American life. Study of the New Era Movement suggests some of the ways that problems of authority and cultural position were present from the beginning of modern mainline consolidation. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of Presbyterian history
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