Exchange on the History of American Liberal Protestantism

Abstract

This exchange began in Chicago as a roundtable at the American Society for Church History’s annual conference in January 2026. It brought together scholars whose work has pushed the study of American liberal Protestantism in pathbreaking directions. In Chicago, we discussed how we came to study liberal Protestantism, how we defined the boundaries of this community, how we understood its place in American history and the history of liberalism, and the relationship between clergy and laity. After a lively conversation with an engaged audience, Church History invited the panelists to reflect further on these important questions and to print our discussion in this journal. The following exchange took place by correspondence during February and March 2026. We invited Thomas A. Tweed, who attended the original panel, to write a response. His thoughtful meditations on the meaning of “liberal” and “liberalism” appear after our exchange.