The Church-Idea: An Essay Towards Unity

The new Library of Episcopalian Classics features works by American Episcopalian authors whose books are timeless, prophetic, or of historical importance for the Church. Covering a wide variety of fields -- history, spirituality, church management, and more -- this series makes available to a new generation the books that helped shape the Episcopal Church as it is today.

William Reed Huntington, a pioneer of the modern ecumenical movement, wrote this persuasive and impassioned plea for unity in 1879. It ultimately led to the Chicago Quadrilateral, the Episcopal Church's first statement about ecumenism.

Now, as many Christians are considering how they might affiliate with those in other denominations, Huntington's book gains contemporary relevance. But ecumenical conversations about unity often get bogged down in resolving endless details. Huntington crystallized the discussion, proposing only four essential views for uniting all Christian churches: 1) Holy Scripture is the Word of God; 2) the Nicene and Apostle's Creeds are the rule of faith; 3) there are t