Over the past few decades, mainline Protestant denominations in
North America have been experiencing a significant decline in
membership, active participation, and financial contributions. In
the midst of this decline, these denominations have been caught up
in a variety of controversial religious, ecclesiastical, and social
issues--a shift from neo-orthodox to liberal theology, the advent
of inclusive liturgical and biblical language, denominational
support for often controversial social issues, and heated debates
around human sexuality, particularly the place of homosexuals in
the church. To address these issues and concerns, and to recapture
the traditionalism many feel their churches have abandoned, the
"remnant faithful," those who choose to stay in their churches,
have formed a number of reform and renewal movements. Cowan
examines these emergent social movements, providing anecdotal and
lively examples of their activities, their arguments, their
identities, and their approaches to strengthening their churches.
Rather than leave denominations which they regard as increasingly
hostile to theological and ecclesiastical traditionalism, many
mainline Protestants have chosen to stay and fight for their
churches, forming reform and renewal movements intended to address
hot-button issues in the way their churches function and practice.
These conservative reform movements, however, are often vilified by
their more liberal co-religionists, and not infrequently regarded
as theologically immature, doctrinally stagnant, and
ecclesiastically belligerent. The Remnant Spirit demonstrates that
these are simplistic and reductivist analyses that only serve to
avoid the very issues around whichreform movements emerge and
evolve. The author provides an in-depth examination of four major
North American denominations, and the various conservative reform
and renewal movements taking place in each, while acknowledging
that every mainline Protestant Church in the U.S. and Canada is
contending with similar issues and addressing them in similar
fashions. Here, the voices of the "remnant faithful," those that
contribute to denominational discussions as they are experienced by
ordinary church members and leaders alike, are presented and
discussed in a thoughtful and lively manner.
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