This highly popular account of the chief events and doctrines of the Presbyterian Church continues to have great appeal to everyone – laypersons, youth, and ministers, students of religion, history, and sociology – in fact, anyone who is interested in the development of a major body of Christians. Clearly written, [it] gives new understanding and appreciation of […]
General Assembly statements issued by the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and its predecessor denominations guide the church in its life and ministry. Selected Theological Statements includes 32 significant texts that span a time frame from 1956 and “The Position of Women in the Church” through 1998 and “Just Peacemaking.” Available through PDS.
This practical resource will assist individuals and adult groups in church school classes, sessions, and retreats by clarifying some of the major themes of each chapter in The Re-Forming Tradition. Study helps for the other volumes of The Presbyterian Presence: The Twentieth Century Experience series are also included. The writers offer excellent suggestions to spur […]
Sketches the life of John Calvin. Shows how Presbyterianism spread throughout Europe, and depicts three centuries of church growth in America, including reunification.
The Journal of Presbyterian History is published twice a year by the Presbyterian Historical Society, the official historical agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Founded in 1852, the Presbyterian Historical Society is the national archives and historical research center of the church and the collective memory of the American Presbyterian tradition.
The meaning of declining membership in mainline Protestant denominations has been hotly contested since the 1960s. Drawing on statistical analysis of membership trends, congregational surveys, individual interviews, research on disaffiliation, and case studies of congregations and presbyteries, this volume examines patterns and causes of congregational growth and decline in the Presbyterian church.
This book addresses the organizational character of American religious history, which points to a tentative but significant conclusion: The Presbyterian church has been undergoing an organizational revolution, and membership decline that began in the mid-1960s.
This valuable book examines the results of research on theological education in the twentieth century, spiritual formation among seminarians, and the changing nature of Presbyterian-related colleges. Several essays review Christian education among Presbyterians, focusing on the forming of curricula for church schools, the use of scripture in Presbyterian curricula, and the publications from denominational presses. […]
Prominent writers from different disciplines strive to analyze the Presbyterian predicament and to offer solutions. Robert Wuthnow (Princeton University) uses sociology to trace the decline of American Presbyterianism in relation to other mainline denominations. Edward Farley (Vanderbilt University) lists areas in which Presbyterians’ heritage of ‘critical modernism’ can be discerned. Barbara Wheeler (Auburn Theological Seminary) […]
In a brief, narrative survey, Balmer and Fitzmier trace the history of the Presbyterian tradition, from its roots in Europe to its manifestations in contemporary America. The six chapters cover the European origins of Presbyterianism; the growth of Presbyterianism in the Northern and Southern states during the nineteenth century; and the development of Presbyterianism in […]