The Theology of The United Church of Canada

The Theology of The United Church of Canada

Author: Don Schweitzer

Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press

Published: 2019-02-14

Total Pages: 556

ISBN-13: 1771123974

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The United Church of Canada has a rich and complex history of theological development. This volume, written for the general reader as well as students and scholars, provides a comprehensive overview of that development, together with an analysis of this unique denomination’s core statements of faith and its contemporary theological landscape. When the Methodist, Congregational, and Local Union Churches in Canada, as well as most of the Presbyterians, came together as The United Church of Canada, the theological commonalities between them were significant. Over the succeeding decades, this made-in-Canada denomination has continued to define its convictions through consensus-building and large-scale studies. This volume, written by leading scholars, outlines key faith perspectives in areas such as creation, the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, sin, mission, and sacraments. No book like this has appeared in over seventy years, and readers will find insight here that is unparalleled in its scope. In creative tension with each individual member’s freedom of conscience, the United Church as a whole has continued to express its commonly held faith in dialogue, continuity, and critical interaction with the faith of the worldwide, historic Christian community.


The Resistance to Church Union in Canada, 1904-1939

The Resistance to Church Union in Canada, 1904-1939

Author: N. Keith Clifford

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13:

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While individuals within the Methodist and Congregational Churcheshad doubts about Church Union, only among the Presbyterians didorganized collective action against the union and the legislation thatcreated the United Church of Canada develop. N. Keith Clifforddocuments the origins, growth and significance of the resistance whichsaw 150,000 Presbyterians refuse to join the new church. Past studies of the union concluded with its consummation in 1925.Viewing the controversy from the perspective of the 1939 amendment tothe United Church of Canada Act, which finally accepted thePresbyterian claims on the identity and continuity of their church,alters the standard images of the parties in the conflict anddemonstrates that there are two quite distinct ways of understandingthe events and the actions based on them. The Resistance to Church Union will be of interest toreligious and social historians and to those interested in therelationship between denominationalism and ecumenism.


The United Church of Canada

The United Church of Canada

Author: Don Schweitzer

Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press

Published: 2011-11-01

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 1554583764

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From its inception in the early 1900s, The United Church of Canada set out to become the national church of Canada. This book recounts and analyzes the history of the church of Canada’s largest Protestant denomination and its engagement with issues of social and private morality, evangelistic campaigns, and its response to the restructuring of religion in the 1960s. A chronological history is followed by chapters on the United Church’s worship, theology, understanding of ministry, relationships with the Canadian Jewish community, Israel, and Palestinians, changing mission goals in relation to First Nations peoples, and changing social imaginary. The result is an original, accessible, and engaging account of The United Church of Canada’s pilgrimage that will be useful for students, historians, and general readers. From this account there emerges a complex portrait of the United Church as a distinctly Canadian Protestant church shaped by both its Christian faith and its engagement with the changing society of which it is a part.