{"id":1267,"date":"2012-02-07T08:50:03","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T13:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/blackwhiteandgray\/?p=1267"},"modified":"2012-02-11T12:58:49","modified_gmt":"2012-02-11T17:58:49","slug":"mr-baltzell%e2%80%99s-neighborhood-the-rise-of-word-%e2%80%9cmainline%e2%80%9d-and-the-decline-of-mainline-denominations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/blackwhiteandgray\/2012\/02\/mr-baltzell%e2%80%99s-neighborhood-the-rise-of-word-%e2%80%9cmainline%e2%80%9d-and-the-decline-of-mainline-denominations\/","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Baltzell\u2019s Neighborhood: The Rise of Word \u201cMainline\u201d and the Decline of Mainline Denominations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

By John Schmalzbauer<\/a>, Missouri State University<\/p>\n

Since last September, Sojourners<\/em><\/a> <\/em>has explored the meaning of \u201cevangelical.\u201d Such conversations have supplemented more academic analyses by political scientists<\/a> and sociologists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After spending so much time on evangelicalism, it\u2019s only fair to ask about American Protestantism\u2019s other major tradition, the Protestant mainline.<\/p>\n

In the judgment of Martin Marty, the term \u201cmainline was and is used mainly by enemies of the mainline<\/a>.\u201d Unlike evangelical, it is a relatively recent word. Often used to designate moderate-to-liberal Protestants, its history is shrouded in mystery.<\/p>\n

Just where did the expression \u201cmainline Protestant\u201d originate? In a fascinating paper<\/a> delivered at the 2008 American Society of Church History meetings, Elesha Coffman<\/a> traced the genealogy of the mainline moniker. Her investigations led her to the main-line suburbs of Philadelphia<\/a>, where the Pennsylvania Railroad connected wealthy elites to Philly\u2019s urban core. This is the neighborhood explored by patrician sociologist E. Digby Baltzell in The Protestant Establishment<\/em><\/a> <\/em>and Philadelphia Gentlemen<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Coffman delivered her paper, Google Culturomics<\/a> was just a glimmer in the eyes of its Mountain View, California creators. Four years later, it is now possible to trace the use of term over the past couple centuries.\u00a0 As this graph<\/a> shows, the labels \u201cmainline Protestant\u201d and \u201cmainline Protestantism\u201d seldom appeared before the 1960s. Both surged in popularity during the 1980s and 1990s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ironically, this period coincides with the numerical decline of the mainline denominations. Since the 1960s, the \u201cseven sisters<\/a>\u201d (the Episcopal Church USA, Presbyterian Church USA, United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ, American Baptist Churches, and Disciples of Christ)have suffered dramatic losses in membership. For a striking contrast, compare the figure above with a graph of the plunging market share of mainline churches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How to explain this strange juxtaposition? In an invaluable essay<\/a>, Louisville Institute director James Lewis notes that most of the literature on the mainline has focused on two questions: \u201c1) just how bad is it and 2) how did we get here?\u201d Whether penned by friends<\/a> or enemies<\/a>, writing about mainline Protestants has emphasized the theme of declension. By defining the mainline as a problem, this scholarship has contributed to the rise of a new label. Whether such terminology can contribute to mainline Protestant renewal<\/a> is anyone\u2019s guess. One thing seems certain. This episode illustrates the \u201cstickiness of labels<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Schmalzbauer, Missouri State University Since last September, Sojourners has explored the meaning of \u201cevangelical.\u201d Such conversations have supplemented more academic analyses by political scientists and sociologists. After spending so much time on evangelicalism, it\u2019s only fair to ask about American Protestantism\u2019s other major tradition, the Protestant mainline. In the judgment of Martin Marty, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[44],"class_list":["post-1267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-john-schmalzbauer","tag-mainline-protestant"],"yoast_head":"\nMr. Baltzell\u2019s Neighborhood: The Rise of Word \u201cMainline\u201d and the Decline of Mainline Denominations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By John Schmalzbauer, Missouri State University Since last September, Sojourners has explored the meaning of \u201cevangelical.\u201d Such conversations have\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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