History
Originally the German Reformed Church, the RCUS was organized when German settlers in 18th-century America, who originally affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church (now the Reformed Church in America), formed their own synod by the end of the century. The 19th century saw controversy as the German Reformed Church debated issues such as revivalism and especially the Mercersburg Theology of John Nevin and Philip Schaff.
The twentieth century saw the RCUS increasingly move toward ecumenism and higher criticism of the Bible. Some who were more conservative in their theology united to form the Eureka Classis of the RCUS to continue classical Reformed worship and polity. The RCUS merged with the Evangelical Synod of North America (ESNA) in 1934 to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church. The Eureka classis, however, abjured that move and decided to continue its existence as the "continuing" Reformed Church in the United States. The classis principally objected to the ESNA's admixture of Lutheran teachings with Calvinist practices; most of its churches and members descended from late 19th-century immigration from parts of Germany where Reformed confessionalism had taken hold. By contrast, most RCUS churches, classes, and synods farther east had significantly assimilated into generalized American Protestantism, with decidedly ecumenical leanings.
The Evangelical and Reformed Church later merged with the Congregational Christian Churches (itself a merger of Congregational and Restorationist churches) in 1957 to become the United Church of Christ, a body noted for its strongly liberal doctrine and moral stances.
Read more about this topic: Reformed Church In The United States
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)
“The history of work has been, in part, the history of the worker’s body. Production depended on what the body could accomplish with strength and skill. Techniques that improve output have been driven by a general desire to decrease the pain of labor as well as by employers’ intentions to escape dependency upon that knowledge which only the sentient laboring body could provide.”
—Shoshana Zuboff (b. 1951)
“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)