What Is a Nazarene?: Understanding Our Place in the Religious Community, Revised and Updated

Around the turn of the 19th century, the Holiness Movement blossomed in America. Wesleyan-Holiness denominations sprang up all over the country. In 1907-8, five of these joined together to form the Church of the Nazarene.The dream that drew the founders together was a believers church in the Wesleyan tradition. It is the same dream that guides the Church of the Nazarene today. But how does that translate into a world where denominational lines don t seem to matter as much as they used to? How is a Nazarene different from a Presbyterian, Baptist, or Pentecostal brother or sister in Christ? What is a Nazarene? answers those questions in concise, easy-to-understand terms, as it examines the similarities and differences between the Church of the Nazarene and other mainline Christian denominations. With refreshing insight and candor, What is a Nazarene? will acquaint you with the heritage that birthed a vision that made a dream come true.

Wesley D. Tracy was the editor of the Herald of Holiness (now Holiness Today), the denominational magazine of the Church of the Nazarene. He has served in the church as a pastor, professor, writer, and editor and is a past president of the Wesleyan Theological Society. A graduate of Southern Nazarene University, Nazarene Theological Seminary, and holding two doctorates (D.Min. and S.T.D.) from San Francisco Theological Seminary, he has authored hundreds of articles and numerous books. Wesley and his wife, Bettye, are members of the Kansas City First Church of the Nazarene.