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A church with the soul of a nation : making and remaking the United Church of Canada / Phyllis D. Airhart.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: McGill-Queen's studies in the history of religion. Series two ; ; no. 67.Publisher: Montreal [Québec] ; Ithaca [New York] : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2014]Description: 1 online resource (xx, 440 pages) : illustrations, portraitsContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780773589292
  • 0773589295
  • 9780773589308
  • 0773589309
Other title:
  • Making and remaking the United Church of Canada
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Additional physical formats: Print version:: Church with the soul of a nation : making and remaking the United Church of Canada.DDC classification:
  • 287.9/20904 23
LOC classification:
  • BX9881 .A47 2014eb
Other classification:
  • online - EBSCO
Online resources:
Contents:
Cover; McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion; Copyright; Contents; Figures and Tables; Abbreviations; Prologue; 1 -- "Friendly Service" to the Nation; 2 -- Controversy and the Construction of Identity; 3 -- The Mission and the "Machinery"; 4 -- The Search for a Faith for Sociable Souls; 5 -- Christian Canada in a "New World Order"; 6 -- Calling Postwar Canada to Christ; 7 -- Uncoupling Christianity and Culture in Canada; 8 -- Listening to the World; 9 -- Reconceiving the United Church; Epilogue; Acknowledgments; Notes; Index.
Summary: ""As Canadian as the maple leaf" is how one observer summed up the United Church of Canada after its founding in 1925. But was this Canadian-made church flawed in its design, as critics have charged? A Church with the Soul of a Nation explores this question by weaving together the history of the United Church with a provocative analysis of religion and cultural change. The story begins in the aftermath of Confederation, when the prospects of building a Christian nation persuaded a group of Congregationalist, Methodist, and Presbyterian leaders to set aside denominational differences and focus instead on shared beliefs. Phyllis Airhart traces the new church's struggle to save its reputation during a bitter controversy with dissenting Presbyterians who refused to join what they considered a "creedless" church. Surviving the organizational and theological challenges of economic depression and war, the future of the church seemed bright. But the ties between personal faith and civic life that the founders took for granted were soon tattered by the secular cultural storm sweeping through western Christendom. The United Church's remaking came with the realization that creating a Christian social order in Canada was unlikely - perhaps even undesirable - in a pluralistic world. A Church with the Soul of a Nation sheds light on the United Church's past controversies and present dilemmas by showing how its founding vision both laid the groundwork for its accomplishments and complicated its adaptation to the new world taking shape."--Back cover.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - EBSCO (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (ebsco)594578

Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-418) and index.

Cover; McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion; Copyright; Contents; Figures and Tables; Abbreviations; Prologue; 1 -- "Friendly Service" to the Nation; 2 -- Controversy and the Construction of Identity; 3 -- The Mission and the "Machinery"; 4 -- The Search for a Faith for Sociable Souls; 5 -- Christian Canada in a "New World Order"; 6 -- Calling Postwar Canada to Christ; 7 -- Uncoupling Christianity and Culture in Canada; 8 -- Listening to the World; 9 -- Reconceiving the United Church; Epilogue; Acknowledgments; Notes; Index.

""As Canadian as the maple leaf" is how one observer summed up the United Church of Canada after its founding in 1925. But was this Canadian-made church flawed in its design, as critics have charged? A Church with the Soul of a Nation explores this question by weaving together the history of the United Church with a provocative analysis of religion and cultural change. The story begins in the aftermath of Confederation, when the prospects of building a Christian nation persuaded a group of Congregationalist, Methodist, and Presbyterian leaders to set aside denominational differences and focus instead on shared beliefs. Phyllis Airhart traces the new church's struggle to save its reputation during a bitter controversy with dissenting Presbyterians who refused to join what they considered a "creedless" church. Surviving the organizational and theological challenges of economic depression and war, the future of the church seemed bright. But the ties between personal faith and civic life that the founders took for granted were soon tattered by the secular cultural storm sweeping through western Christendom. The United Church's remaking came with the realization that creating a Christian social order in Canada was unlikely - perhaps even undesirable - in a pluralistic world. A Church with the Soul of a Nation sheds light on the United Church's past controversies and present dilemmas by showing how its founding vision both laid the groundwork for its accomplishments and complicated its adaptation to the new world taking shape."--Back cover.

English.