Jeopardy religion: Name a ‘small, historically prominent American Protestant denomination’

[hrmjustin]

Cathy Lynn Grossman

What is the Episcopal Church?

A decade ago, the Episcopal Church was front page news in national media when New Hampshire faithful elected a gay bishop. Editors assumed readers would see this as a significant moment in U.S. religion. One scholar in 2003 likened the Episcopal Church to California. “Things happen there that they know will happen in the rest of the churches,” said anthropologist of religion Susan Harding.

- See more at: http://cathylynngrossman.religionnews.com/2014/12/31/episcopal-church-protestant-religion/#sthash.6A2bS0y9.dpuf

[carolinayellowdog]

1. whose definition of "small"? 1.86 million in the US alone is quite large to me

especially when linked to a global Anglican communion of many more millions. Quakers seem to answer the question best, because their historical prominence is out of all proportion to their membership. Moravians are another group that in NC are small, but like Quakers have very strong impact on the regional history and architecture. It's all relative, I suppose; to a Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Protestantism may look small, but to me a small denomination is under a hundred thousand and even Unitarians are in the medium sized denomination range.

What's striking re Episcopalian news is the massive recent membership drop which represents a generational crisis, not specific to Episcopalians but acute among them in particular. It's worth a thread of its own about which denominations are shrinking and growing and why.