National Council of Churches.

When the churches of the American Protestant establishment—Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians—joined together in 1950 to establish the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America (NCC), their postwar self-confidence and long-established respectability seemed to promise success in their ultimate goal, the restoration of Christianity as a single, unified body of believers. In midcentury America their rather modest theological differences and historical antagonisms seemed eminently less important than the goal of restoring the unity of the body of Christ. Just as importantly, the Protestant mainstream seemed to share common cultural expectations, language, and experiences. Sharing communion and creed did not seem too difficult to achieve with an adequate supply of goodwill. Such expectations were not misplaced. By the end of the century, enormous ecumenical strides had been made within the mainstream. On 31 October 1999, the...