One Faith No Longer: The Transformation of Christianity in Red and Blue America

Yancey (sociology, Baylor Univ.; What Motivates Cultural Progressives) and Quosigk (religion, Univ. of Georgia; American Evangelicals: Conflicted on Islam) argue in this book that there is now such a clear division between American progressive and conservative Christianity, across all denominations, that they constitute different religions. To do so, Yancey and Quosigk address what makes a distinct, separate religion, as opposed to a variation within a larger faith tradition. Focusing on Evangelicals, the authors arrive at four basic criteria (historical trajectory, grounds of religious imperative, self-identification, and insider/outsider identification) and employ a combination of historical narrative, demographic data, and qualitative research. For instance, they find that progressive Evangelicals were less comfortable with the descriptor “Evangelical,” and were more apt to make common cause with fellow progressives than conservative Evangelicals and to avoid collaboration even where interests converge. Yancey and Quosigk find that religious motivation also diverges: that conservatives ground their actions in their desire to pattern their lives on a biblically derived imperative, while progressives look instead to humanitarian ideals.