The story of Protestantism in North America defies easy summary. It is, on the one hand, a religious ‘establishment’ that has fundamentally shaped the cultural traditions and social institutions of the USA and Canada. Yet it is also one piece of an increasingly pluralistic picture, contested from within and without, tempered by internal dissent and external competition. In general, North American Protestants trace their roots to the Reformation in Europe, primarily the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition, Lutherans, Methodists and Anabaptists. (Episcopalians are ordinarily included in this category; however, churches from the Anglican Communion are dealt with separately in this volume.) But this list also includes a diverse array of ‘home-grown’ groups, like the Seventh-day Adventists and, many would argue, the Latter-day Saints.

White Protestantism has been profoundly affected by the theological and cultural controversies of the early twentieth century, disputes that separated denominations and congregations into two general categories, Evangelical and mainline. The categories should be used with some caution, however, as they are slippery, subjective and notoriously hard to define. There are also important exceptions, most notably the Black Protestant churches, which both overlap with the white mainline narrative and represent a unique spiritual tradition shaped by the rigours of slavery and segregation. The African Methodist Episcopal Church and the National Baptists, for example, have common historical roots with their white mainline counterparts, and share beliefs and practices around theology and church government. Yet they are also distinct in worship practices as well as spirituality and theology, and also differ from both the white mainline and Evangelicals in matters of social ethics.

This essay focuses on the story of the ‘mainline’. We begin by noting that the word itself is relatively new and, among scholars of North American religion, controversial. ‘Mainline’ originally referred to the railroad system connecting the elite suburbs north-west of Philadelphia — thus being synonymous with wealth, social standing and old money. Exactly how the word took on a religious connotation is unclear, but by the 1960s the term was an accepted shorthand for a set of predominantly white, socially and theologically liberal denominations. In the USA, the so-called ‘mainline’ Protestant denominations usually include American Baptists, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Episcopalians, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America, the United Church of Christ and United Methodists.