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Pastors and Public Life

Online ISBN:
9780190455521
Print ISBN:
9780190455491
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Pastors and Public Life

Corwin E. Smidt
Corwin E. Smidt

Senior Fellow

Senior Fellow, Calvin College
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Published online:
24 March 2016
Published in print:
1 April 2016
Online ISBN:
9780190455521
Print ISBN:
9780190455491
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This volume examines the changing sociological, theological, and political characteristics of American Protestant clergy. The study is based on data gathered through national random surveys of clergy from four mainline Protestant (the Disciples of Christ; the Presbyterian Church, USA; the Reformed Church in America; and, the United Methodist Church) and three evangelical Protestant denominations (the Assemblies of God; the Christian Reformed Church; and, the Southern Baptist Convention) across three points in time over the past twenty years: in 1989, 2001, and 2009. It examines continuity and change related to social composition, theological beliefs, perspectives related to the public witness of the church within American society, positions on issues of American public policy, about what is, and is not, appropriate for clergy to do politically, political cue-giving activities both within and outside the context of worship, public pronouncements related to matters of public policy, and political activism. The focus is on the levels of change and continuity evident among Protestant clergy in relationship to these matters, and, as such, it constitutes the first, and only, published study that systematically examines such changes over time.

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