Date Thesis Awarded
4-2018
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Science (BS)
Department
Religious Studies
Advisor
Alexander Angelov
Committee Members
Marc Raphael
Christopher Grasso
Abstract
In 1997, four American Protestant denominations (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ) signed a document entitled "A Formula of Agreement," which brought them into full communion partnership. This thesis analyzes the history of these four Churches, the conversations preceding the signing, the document itself, and its dissenters' arguments. It situates "A Formula of Agreement" within Charles Taylor's A Secular Age and examines the Holy Communion as an example of Victor Turner's communitas for the twentieth-century ecumenical movement. "Children of the Bible" argues that ecumenism is a product of the modern era in which people have a choice to be not religious, and it provides a framework for understanding how the de-emphasis of historical divisions and scriptural interpretation enables ecumenical partnerships.
Recommended Citation
Acors, Brittany, "Children of the Bible: American Protestantism, "A Formula of Agreement," and the Twentieth-Century Ecumenical Movement" (2018). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 1155.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/1155
