In his enthronement sermon as archbishop of Canterbury in 1942 William Temple famously declared the ecumenical movement to be ""the great new fact of our era."" In this book Martin Camroux tries to face honestly how hope met reality. By the end of the century the enthusiasm had largely dissipated, the organizations that represented it were in decline, and organic unity looked further away than ever.

One significant ecumenical merger took place in Britain--the creation in 1972 of the United Reformed Church, which saw its formation as a catalyst for ecumenical renewal. Its hopes, however, were...