The Politics of Church 'Mergers:' An Application of Coalition Theory.

In recent years there have been both "mergers" between Christian denominations, for example the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church, are now, supposedly, in "full communion." Looser "coalitions" have formed as well: in 2002 nine denominations representing 22 million members formed Churches Uniting in Christ, looking towards full communion by 2007. Analyes such as that of Chaves and Sutton (2004) employ the sociological perspectives of organizational behavior, such as are applied to classic business mergers. This paper does not argue that this approach is lacking in any way, but rather deploys a different perspective on church "mergers," that provided by coalition theory. As the insights of theory in this field are applied the paper will emphasize key "political" perspectives; thus joinging those of political science to those of sociology. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]