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In November 1995 I was flying back from a meeting of the American Academyof Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature in Philadelphia. A groupof eight or ten women, who earlier had been associated with the radical feministRe-Imagining conference, were returning from the same conference I had attended.Across the aisle of the plane they were discussing "the takeover of thedenomination at the big showdown in Albuquerque" in 1996. At Albuquerquethe General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), my denomination,was scheduled to make a definitive decision on the question of the ordinationof practicing homosexuals. The talk in the plane was how to commandeer theprocess in favor of ordaining homosexuals.

What interested me most about this airborne caucus was that only one or twoof the women were Presbyterians. The others with whom I was familiar wereCatholic, Methodist, Lutheran, or United Church of Christ. It was clear thatadvocates of a radical agenda—across denominational boundaries—were targetingAlbuquerque for purposes beyond those of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

This illustrated for me how a significant realignment is taking place withinmainline Protestantism today. Most mainline denominations are witnessingthe emergence of two camps or movements within them, with supportingorganizations and publications for each one. The one camp inclines towardthe conservative side of the spectrum, committed to recovering the biblicaland theological basis of the church. The other camp leans to the liberalside of the spectrum and defines the nature of the church in terms of pluralismand inclusiveness.

Neither camp has any formal membership insignia, but it is usually no secretwho belongs to which camp. In fact, each camp typically has more definingpower for its adherents than does the denomination itself. It is not unusualfor members of a camp to share more in common with corresponding camp membersin other denominations—like the group on my flight—than they do with oppositecamp members of their own denomination.

Been there
The two-camp conflict currently defining the American church struggle, ifit can be called that, is not unique to our time and place. The history ofthe German church in the 1930s is in at least two respects a prototype ofthe current situation of mainline denominations.

The Synod of Barmen, and the Barmen Declaration (1934) that issued from it,grew out of what was known as "the German church struggle." The strugglewas perceived and articulated by the Synod of Barmen in terms of confessionalismversus accommodation to culture. Specifically, that meant a conflict betweentwo understandings and models of Chrisianity. The one, represented by the"German Christians," advocated a "positive Christianity" that sought to integratethe gospel as far as possible with the prevailing ideology ushered in byHitler and National Socialism. This included discarding the Old Testamentand abandoning the Jewish context of Christianity, Aryanizing Jesus, downplayingor denying the Cross and Atonement as symbols of weakness and defeat, andrecasting Jesus as a heroic figure serviceable to the Nazi cause. The rulingaxiom of "German Christianity" was that the church realized its purpose bychampioning the Zeitgeist (spirit of the times), which at thatpoint was the new Aryan Mensch (human being) and his politicalgenie, National Socialism.

The other understanding of Christianity was expressed by the "ConfessingChurch," which at Barmen and subsequent synods protested against reformulatingChristianity according to Germanic, especially Nazi, archetypes. Barmen appealedto Holy Scripture over Nazi ideology, to the lordship of Jesus Christ overthe demagoguery of the "Fuhrer," to the freedom of the church over a"Brown" cultural and ideological captivity.

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August 11 1997, Vol. 41, No. 9