This book examines a movement of liberal Protestant clergy and laypeople in the United States who after World War II developed new forms of ministry adapted to the changing environment of urban America. Cities during this period were enduring the effects of deindustrialization and suburbanization. Responding to these conditions, which were encapsulated under the term urban crisis, they developed a broad, multifaceted ecclesiology that reconceived the church as a central institution in a multiethnic urban society. They hoped this renewed church would reconcile social divisions, alleviate injust ... More

This book examines a movement of liberal Protestant clergy and laypeople in the United States who after World War II developed new forms of ministry adapted to the changing environment of urban America. Cities during this period were enduring the effects of deindustrialization and suburbanization. Responding to these conditions, which were encapsulated under the term urban crisis, they developed a broad, multifaceted ecclesiology that reconceived the church as a central institution in a multiethnic urban society. They hoped this renewed church would reconcile social divisions, alleviate injustice, and improve race relations. Their approach to ministry drew on the Protestant principle, closely related to neoorthodoxy, which stated that no human institution, including the church, could achieve perfection. The Protestant principle encouraged renewalists to revise their ministries continuously. The result was a dramatic escalation of activity, funded by denominational supporters during an optimistic period in the church’s history. Internal tensions over political strategies and race relations, however, soon fractured the movement. More renewalists began to venture beyond church organizations in their ministries, and black renewalists mounted a spirited campaign for racial equality in the church. Ultimately the renewal movement foundered on these internal contradictions and external pressures. The renewal movement illustrates the dynamics that drove both secular political liberalism and liberal Protestantism. It helps us to see how the relationship between religion and urbanization affected the evolution of liberal political traditions. The ideology and ecclesiology underlying these quests for social reform were both productive and destabilizing.