In a wide-ranging collection of articles, a distinguished set of commentators on American religion examine the denomination's past and present roles, its definable nature, and its evolution over time.

Evidence of mainstream denominational decline virtually throws itself in our faces--growing religious pluralism in North America; the decline over the last half century in the salience, prestige, power, and vitality of Protestant denominational leadership; slippage in mainline membership and corresponding growth, vigor, visibility, and political prowess of conservative, evangelical, and fundamentalist bodies; patterns of congregational independence, including loosening of or removal of denominational identity, particularly in signage, and the related marginal loyalty of members; emergence of megachurches, with resources and the capacity to meet needs heretofore supplied by denominations (training, literature, expertise); growth within mainline denominations of caucuses and their alignment into broad progressive or conservative camps, often with connections to similar camps in other denominations; widespread suspicion of, indeed hostility towards, the centers and symbols of denominational identity--the regional and national headquarters; migration of individuals and families through various religious identities, sometimes out of classic Christianity altogether. Denominationalism looks doomed and is so proclaimed. It may be. However, viewing the sweep of Anglo-American history, this volume suggests how much denominations and denominationalism have changed, how resilient they have proved, how significant these structures of religious belonging have been in providing order and direction to American society, and how such enduring purposes find ever new structural/institutional expression.

In a wide-ranging collection of articles, a distinguished set of commentators on American religion examine the denomination's past and present roles, its definable nature, and its evolution over time.

The term "denomination" is now widely used to describe a Christian community or church. But what is a 'denomination'? In this highly creative collection of essays, representatives of all major Christian traditions give an answer to this question. What does the term mean in their own tradition? And does that tradition understand itself to be a 'denomination'? If so, what is that understanding of 'denomination'; and if not, how does the tradition understand itself vis à vis those churches which do and those churches which do not understand themselves as 'denominations'? In dialogue with the argument and ideas set forth in Barry Ensign-George's essay, each contributor offers a response from the perspective of a particular church (tradition). Each essay also considers questions concerning the current landscape of ecumenical dialogue; ecumenical method and the goals of the ecumenical movement; as well as questions of Christian identity and belonging.

Are church denominations necessary; do they even have a future? Such questions are explored in Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism, based on a conference of the same name held at Union University where Evangelical and Southern Baptist scholars addressed challenging issues of theology, polity, and practice. Contributors include: Ed Stetzer ("Denominationalism: Is There a Future?") James Patterson ("Reflections on 400 Years of the Baptist Movement") Harry L. Poe ("The Gospel and Its Meaning") Timothy George ("Baptists and Their Relations with Other Christians") Duane Liftin ("The Future of American Evangelicalism") Ray Van Neste ("Pastoral Ministry in Southern Baptist and Evangelical Life") Mark DeVine ("Emergent or Emerging") Daniel Akin ("The Future of the Southern Baptist Convention") Michael Lindsay ("The Changing Religious Landscape in North America") Jerry Tidwell ("Missions and Evangelism") David S. Dockery ("So Many Denominations") Nathan Finn ("Passing on the Faith to the Next Generation") R. Albert Mohler Jr. (title essay)

In these twenty-nine essays, Episcopalians consider the tradition and the future of their church--its theology, its polity, its missiology. These "new conversations" come from ministers of every order (bishop, priest, deacon, laity) and from practiced hands at many ministries (education, theology, music, chaplaincy, and spiritual direction). Several essayists write urgently that the Episcopal Church must change if it is to survive. Others contend--with equal fervor--that American Anglicanism can work if Episcopalians will reclaim and reaffirm their liturgical, spiritual, and theological heritage. Between these views are other writers who suggest that points of supposed opposition might indeed coexist in the church of the future--taking vibrant, and perhaps paradoxical, new forms.

This fresh perspective on the church explores its essential nature as a community of people governed by the Word and led and taught by the Spirit.