The Remnant Spirit:
Reform and Renewal in Mainline Christianity
A Brief Overview of the Project
The Remnant Spirit is an ethnographic and sociological study of conservative reform and renewal movements within mainline Christianity. While there is some disagreement as to what denominations constitute "the mainline," and some debate about the usefulness of the term in a time of declining congregational numbers and attenuated social influence, historically the "mainline" has included: the United Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal Churches, the United Church of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the American Baptist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Roman Catholic Church. In Canada, this list includes the United Church of Canada, the largest Protestant denomination in the country. While not all of these will be discussed in the book, each has seen reform or renewal movements of some kind.
Perhaps the simplest way to frame the basic question I am asking is one which is answered quite regularly by the Biblical Witness Fellowship's (UCC) David Runnion-Bareford: Why do you stay? In the face of continued denominational change that is perceived to pull the church further and further from the Christianity revealed in the biblical witness, why remain? Having heard the question asked of theologically conservative members of liberal mainline churches for many years, I became very interested in the answer.
Reform and renewal movements are not new in the history of religious thought and evolution. They often emerge when institutional religions are perceived to be too closely accommodating the dominant culture (secularization) and/or too poorly preserving the theological heritage from which the institution developed (liberalization or apostasy). Indeed, conflict is the engine that drives renewal and reform, and while some reform and renewal movements do lead to schism and the formation of new church groups, The Remnant Spirit examines those groups and movements that have chosen to stay within their parent, mainline denominations, and seeks to provide a
n explanation for both their emergence and their endurance.Part One of The Remnant Spirit lay
s the groundwork for consideration of the problem from a research perspective. In broad outline, I discuss the processes of secularization, liberalization, and decline in mainline Christian communities, as well as the principle dynamics of response to those processes: the perception of apostasy, the desire for a return to a more faithful age, and the evangelical, legalist, and charismatic drifts by which this return is effected.Part Two explore
s a number of denominational case studies of reform and renewal movements, specifically the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, the Anglican Communion in North America, the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ, and the United Church of Canada. All have experienced varying degrees of post-war theological and practical liberalization; each has seen the emergence of reform and renewal movements in response to theological, doctrinal, or practical change.Part Three will analyze the case studies in the context of my original research agenda, and from structuralist, functionalist, and teleological perspectives. Specifically, what structures have the reform and renewal movements retained from the parent tradition, and what have they rejected or abandoned? In the context of reform and renewal, what purposes do these retentions and abandonments serve? And, toward what end are reform and renewal movements oriented?
What is the nature of reform discourse, especially as it shifts from the defence of "tradition" to the defence of "orthodoxy"? How has the reform and renewal movement become institutionalized, and what effect has that had on its mission?