Considering The Episcopal Church From 1945 to the Present Day.
Two of the three readings to which I am responding here had their focus on the major issues faced by liberal Protestantism in the second half of the Twentieth Century (one detailing responses in The Episcopal Church), while the third addressed the changes to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. While the alterations made to the Prayer Book do reflect, in a larger sense, issues with which the Church was struggling and the impact this had on its liturgy, in this note I intend to interact primarily with and examine the significance of the article by N. J. Demerath (“Cultural Victory and Organizational Defeat in the Paradoxical Decline of Liberal Protestantism”) and David Sumner’s book, The Episcopal Church’s History 1945–1985 (Chapter 6: “The Church in Society: More Tough Issues”).
Demerath argues that every branch of mainline liberal Protestantism in North America, despite the fact that they were the “founding faiths” of American civil religion, have experienced decline (ironically) because of the brand of liberal individualism which they have tended to promote. His central thesis consists of the idea that, “liberal Protestants have lost structurally at the micro level precisely because they have won culturally at the macro level” (p. 463). In his analysis of the emancipating influence of mainline Protestant liberalism on modern society, and its subsequent—and perhaps unexpected—consequences for church membership and structure, I think that Demerath’s notion is almost certainly correct.
Demerath’s concerns himself centrally with the ways in which the needs of society affected and even changed the message and priorities of the church. He claims to recognize the theological insufficiency of directly identifying Protestant liberalism with such American values as individualism, freedom, democracy, and intellectual inquiry (p. 462), but I found that his argument would have been strengthened had he taken some space to explore why this shift took place in the first place. For example, the notion of “freedom” found in the Pauline corpus differs dramatically from the way in which most modern Americans understand and practice this idea. What happened historically that allowed for mainline Protestantism and the culture to achieve a confluence of views on this idea, among others? Demerath strongest statement in this regard is that, “Clearly some linkage is required between these two discourses,” and moves on. His (classically liberal) assumption appears to be that that God is immanent in human culture, and works, as he finally states, “in the interactions” (p. 468). Assuming the reactionary nature of liberal Protestant theology to the “popular piety” of the 1950’s, what deeper structure within mainline Protestantism’s self-understanding and theology itself allowed for re-definitions of some of its central Christological claims?
Demerath seems to be asking: Has a church that has been so transformed by its service to society (less gracious observers might argue “hijacked by society”) that it no longer articulates values superior to that society outlived its usefulness? He states that he does not prescribe re-introducing conservative theology as a means of establishing “strict” membership requirements—something around which people could once again coalesce rather than a commitment to pursuits of individual liberty. Rather, he considers that functioning as a “remnant” group may actually lead to the rediscovery of the best of Protestant liberalism in the future. I have concluded this myself, but feel that it is not for the church to wait for society to recognize it as “useful” again. Rather, in my view, the Church must articulate and live into its identity and mission in fresh and newly Christocentric ways (which guarantees that it always has something meaningful to say to society).
Sumner’s Chapters, rather than overviewing liberal Protestantism in general, deal with the specific responses of The Episcopal Church to various societal “hot button” issues: the Vietnam War, homosexuality, the ordination of women, abortion, corporate ethics, and the peace movement. He tracks the response of the General Convention to each of these issues from the time directly following World War II to the mid 1980’s. The overall picture he presents is of a church uncertain where the force that maintains its unity actually resides, while at the same time remains committed to honest dialogue (even when the content of that dialogue can sometimes cause embarrassment in hindsight).
Sumner’s synopsis of The Episcopal Church’s practice of exploring its theological tensions publically underscores its willingness to endure honest (if not painful) communication as the price for discovering the truth of a matter. While it would be unfair to assert that The Episcopal Church has allowed society’s issues at large to dominate its theological agenda entirely, it cannot be denied that this Church has moved more quickly than most other mainline Protestant denominations in setting a progressive agenda for ecclesiastical community and society. Sumner offers snippets of past conversations about each issue, skillfully re-creating some of the dialogue from General Conventions in order to reveal the tone of the debate. His view that, “In one sense, the church never solved the ‘issues.’ … the ‘issues’ will exist as long as the church’s doors are open,” (p. 73) seems more accurate than to simply assume that the Church has somehow relegated its responsibility to stay centered theologically to the whims of society in general.
That this is true is revealed in the decades long discussion concerning proposed changes to the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. While Demerath might say that The Episcopal Church has, “coalesced around a shared commitment to a distinctive liturgy or ritual language” (p. 467), there seems little evidence in the 1979 Prayer Book that the Church views itself as a people indulging in its own propensity for recherché forms of worship. Rather, the expansions of language and ritual seem driven by both a need to meet people where they are at in contemporary society and careful theological reflection. While The Episcopal Church may have much hard work ahead in articulating itself meaningfully to postmodern society, its commitment to authenticity and theological depth in liturgy will hopefully guide it in that process.
I can appreciate the theological and political issues related to the decline of the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. However, as a person with a background in the social sciences, I continue to see some historical trends that have worked against us. Of course, an obvious demographic trend is the declining birth rate among European-Americans, the historical base of American Anglicanism. More importantly, I think, is the failure of the Episcopal Church (especially the Indianapolis diocese) to cope with the movement of Americans to the suburbs and the more recent decline of medium sized cities. Some of the failure seems to be result of an inability to formulate plans of suburban growth and some seems to be the result of a hostility to the more conservative nature of suburbs. Evangelical religious entrepeneurs, on the hand, have found their pot of gold in the sburubs as newly arrived families “church shop.” Of course, there is an overall decline in religious observance in the suburbs (compared to small towns), but we seem to be MIA in this crucial area. This seems to be similar to the failure of the European churches to appeal to the urban working class during the 19th Century Industrial Revolution.
I also have a “feeling” that changing political patterns have worked against us. When the New Deal coalition of urban immigrants and Southern whites broke down, evangelicals in Dixie slowly switched their alligence to the Republican Party which had been dominated by the traditional Protestant churches. As civil rights issues divided Americans, Republicans (e.g. Nixon’s ‘southern strategy”) shifted toward the right and away from traditionally moderate Protestantism. I would like to see some historical research on this concept.
Finally, there are some other issues that have impacted the status of religion. World War II and the emergence of the U.S. as the dominate world power, diminished European culture and encouraged Americans to seek cultural beliefs and practices rooted in their own historical experience. That has been hard on churches that use very European liturgies. (American Anglicanism seems to have most successfully attracted members when the British Empire was at its peak. Is that historically correct?) Also, as evangelicals became more assertive politically and socially their views of science undermined faith in religion throughout society. In a similar way, the Roman Catholic child abuse scandals have weakened faith in religion among Catholics and non-Catholics.