This is a ground breaking collection of essays that takes a hard look at the Reform Movement today. Opening essays look at the problem of building a religous community, the competition in the "spiritual marketplace," and why people join or do not join a Reform synagogue. Other contributors look at a host of controversial issues including Patrilineal Descent, Outreach, Intermarriage, gender issues, gay and lesbian participation, and others.

Foreword, Martin E. Marty; Introduction: Conflicting Visions of the Reform Movement in the United States Today, Dana Evan Kaplan; Section 1 Where We Are Today; 1. A Religious and Social Profile of Reform Judaism in the United States, Bernard M. Lazerwitz and Ephraim Tabory; 2. Reform Judaism and Modern American Community, Lewis A. Friedland; 3. Reform Judaism in the Spiritual Marketplace, Richard Cimino; 4. Why People in the Sunbelt Join a Synagogue: Jewish Religious Preference in palm Beach County, Joel Levine; Section 2 Legitimacy and Authenticity: The Sins of Yesterday and the Controversies of Today; 5. When Reform Judaism Was Judaism, Jacob Neusner; 6. Reform's Original Sin, Arnold Jacob Wolf; 7. From the Christmas Tree to the Yarmulke: What Separates Classical Reform from mainstream Reform? Harold S. Silver; 8. Full Churches, Empty Synagogues: a Defense of Classical Reform, Jay R. Brickman; 9. Orthodoxy Confronts Reform: The Two Hundred Years' War, Aryeh Spero; Section 3 Personal Status; 10. Not by Birth Alone: The Case for a Missionary Judaism, Alexander M. Schindler; 11. Patrilineal Descent Revisited, Steven Bayme; 12. The Importance of Outreach in Maintaining Reform's Autonomy, Diversity, and Pluralism, Eric H. Yoffie; 13. Why I Officiate at Mixed-Marriage Wedding Ceremonies, Hillel Cohn; Section 4 Gender; 14. A Worthier Place: Women, Reform Judaism, and the Presidents of Hebrew Union College, Karla Goldman; 15. Embracing Lesbians and Gay Men: A Refom Jewish Innovation, Denise L. Eger; 16. Where Kosher Means Organic and Union Label: Bisexual Women Reembrace Their Jewish Heritage, Hinda Seif; Section 5 Visions for the Future; 17. Leadership for Profound Change: A Means for Transforming the American Reform Synagogue, Samuel K. Joseph; 18. The Legitimacy of Reform Judaism: The Impact of Israel on the United States, Ephraim Tabory; 19. Reform Judaism of the New Millennium: A Challenge, Alfred Gottschalk; 20. Transforming the Reform Jew, Sheldon Zimmerman; Afterword, W. Gunther Plaut; About the Contributors; Index