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The Liberation of Missionary Evangelicalism

Amanda Porterfield

in The Transformation of American Religion: The Story of a Late-Twentieth-Century Awakening

American enthusiasm for individual religious experience has often resulted in missionary outreach and social reform. Focusing on the Reformed Protestant tradition that helped shape American culture, ... More

American enthusiasm for individual religious experience has often resulted in missionary outreach and social reform. Focusing on the Reformed Protestant tradition that helped shape American culture, this chapter shows how American Protestants in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries came to see benevolence as the chief manifestation of Christian virtue. The chapter also describes the criticism of missionary arrogance that developed within missionary circles in the early twentieth century, and the emergence belief that while education, economic assistance, healthcare, and other forms of philanthropy were appropriate Christian endeavors, attempts to destroy other religions were not. The chapter points to this development in missionary thinking, and to social gospel tradition in liberal American Protestantism more generally, as a precursor of the liberation theology promoted by Catholic activists in the late twentieth century.Less

Terminology, Myth, and Tribes

William M. Shea

in The Lion and the Lamb: Evangelicals and Catholics in America

This chapter begins with an explanation of the enmity between American evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics, which can be traced back to colonial period. It then discusses scholarly literature ... More

This chapter begins with an explanation of the enmity between American evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics, which can be traced back to colonial period. It then discusses scholarly literature on evangelical-Catholic relations, and analyzes three myths: the Protestant myth, Roman Catholic myth, and the Enlightenment myth. An overview of the chapters in this volume is also presented.Less

Reinhold Niebuhr and Protestant Liberalism

David A. Hollinger

in After Cloven Tongues of Fire: Protestant Liberalism in Modern American History

This epilogue offers a historical perspective on the career of Reinhold Niebuhr, the most acclaimed intellectual within a distinctive American Protestant generation: the generation that brought the ... More

This epilogue offers a historical perspective on the career of Reinhold Niebuhr, the most acclaimed intellectual within a distinctive American Protestant generation: the generation that brought the tradition of Protestant liberalism to its greatest moments of public authority, and then presided over that tradition's decline in relation to secular dispositions on the one hand and evangelical sensibilities on the other. Niebuhr's career displays the fissures and fusions that constitute much of Protestant liberalism's struggle to define its own relation to the United States and its various component parts. At issue, often, has been to what extent the faithful should make common cause with, or against, people who do not profess Christianity at all, or who profess the wrong kind. Those fissures and fusions have been propelled by many immediate historical conditions, but also by a variety of often conflicting senses of how Protestant Christianity can best accommodate the Enlightenment.Less

 Fanny Crosby and Protestant Hymnody

Edith L. Blumhofer

in Music in American Religious Experience

Fanny Crosby (1820-1915) was the most prolific author of texts for hymns throughout American history. This chapter surveys the vast range of her contributions to American hymnody, and interprets the ... More

Fanny Crosby (1820-1915) was the most prolific author of texts for hymns throughout American history. This chapter surveys the vast range of her contributions to American hymnody, and interprets the complex meanings within such that she has come to play such a critical role in the shaping of language for American hymnody. Though blind, Crosby collaborated extensively with hymn composers and compilers, such as William Bradbury, developing both an individual style and displaying sensitivity to the ways in which images and texts would appeal to the broadest cross-section of American Protestants. She chose the language of her hymns from the revivals of her youth and the changing immigrant populations of New York City in her adult life. Her life and work embodied many different aspects of American religious experience, and her hymn texts shaped the canon and aesthetics of sacred song, particularly evangelical song, from the 19th century into the 21st century.Less

¡Ya Basta! Latino/a Protestant Activism in the Chicano/a and Farm Workers Movements

Paul Barton

in Latino Religions and Civic Activism in the United States

This chapter examines the responses of los Protestantes in the US Southwest to the Chicano/a and farm worker movements, illuminating their role in the public arena during the last thirty-five years. ... More

This chapter examines the responses of los Protestantes in the US Southwest to the Chicano/a and farm worker movements, illuminating their role in the public arena during the last thirty-five years. The primary goals are: firstly, to highlight the catalytic ability of a cadre of Chicano/a “mainline” Protestant leaders to move their churches and ecclesial organizations to endorse and support the Chicano/a and farm worker movements in Texas from the 1960s until the early 1980s; and secondly, to examine the three basic responses of Latino/a Protestants to these social justice movements (solidarity, ambivalence and indifference, and opposition). As the Chicano/a Protestants led their church co-faithful into the public struggle of these popular movements, they caused a realignment of loyalties among a number of “mainline” Latino/a Protestants. Ethnic affiliation became as important to them as their denominational affiliation. Additionally, they promoted a theological understanding of the Gospel that embraced the oppressed and viewed the kingdom of God as a goal to strive for in contemporary society.Less

Rivalries Redoubled: Americans in the Levant

Jennifer M. Dueck

in The Claims of Culture at Empire's End: Syria and Lebanon under French Rule

This chapter considers American involvement during the war years. Unlike Britain, the USA had a sizeable social and cultural network in Syria and Lebanon, owing mainly to the work of American ... More

This chapter considers American involvement during the war years. Unlike Britain, the USA had a sizeable social and cultural network in Syria and Lebanon, owing mainly to the work of American Protestant missions. This strong educational presence provided the American government with an institutional framework around which to develop stable long-term cultural networks. Moreover, the USA's reputation for political disinterestedness and anti-imperialism endeared it to much of the local population. Where the British used direct contact between their military officials and the French teaching establishments to hinder French cultural activities, American influence on education took place through grass-roots activism and diplomatic intervention. The ties that American educators had fostered with the local population for decades provided a foundation for powerful bilateral exchanges during the Second World War.Less

Prologue: The Pope of Presbyterianism

Paul C. Gutjahr

in Charles Hodge: Guardian of American Orthodoxy

The Prologue argues for the importance of Charles Hodge in nineteenth-century American Protestantism through his publications (including forty years as the editor of the Biblical Repertory and ... More

The Prologue argues for the importance of Charles Hodge in nineteenth-century American Protestantism through his publications (including forty years as the editor of the Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review) and his fifty-six year career as a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. It is impossible to fully understand the current shape of American Presbyterianism, American Calvinism, and much of twentieth-century Protestant Fundamentalism without carefully studying the theological influence of Charles Hodge.Less

The Religion of Conservative Christians: A Return to the Reformation?

in The Truth about Conservative Christians: What They Think and What They Believe

This chapter analyzes survey data to organize a sketch of Conservative Christianity as a religious system. It concludes that the Conservatives and Afro–American Protestants both embrace a systematic ... More

This chapter analyzes survey data to organize a sketch of Conservative Christianity as a religious system. It concludes that the Conservatives and Afro–American Protestants both embrace a systematic religious heritage, one that they can legitimately claim is an authentic updating of the Reformation. The central issue is the Bible as sole rule of faith. Once Mainline Protestantism began to equivocate about Genesis it compromised with modernity and lost its authenticity. Most elements of faith and practice that have been considered here point to differences between Bible religion, as espoused and practiced by the Conservative and Afro–American denominations, and the Bible-liturgical hybrid that is Mainline Protestantism. Over and over it was found that a scale composed of the three solas—scripture, faith, and grace—accounted for between 60 and 99 percent of the differences between Conservative and Mainline Protestants. Conservative Christians and their Afro–American partners in faith are the real dissenters in America—some, no doubt, more than others. Dissent permeates their core beliefs, their worldviews, their morality, their relationships with God, and their devotions. It is not a fashionable dissent but rather a stern, consistent, and determined dissent.Less

The Immaculate Conception and the Elevation of the Feminine, 1855–1860s

Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez

in The Valiant Woman: The Virgin Mary in Nineteenth-Century American Culture

This chapter focuses on the gender rhetoric that emerged in the Immaculate Conception debate. In articles, editorials, and pamphlets, American Protestants publicly stated their beliefs and fears ... More

This chapter focuses on the gender rhetoric that emerged in the Immaculate Conception debate. In articles, editorials, and pamphlets, American Protestants publicly stated their beliefs and fears about the meaning of Mary’s womanhood and objected to the dogma in explicitly gendered language. An analysis of this rhetoric reveals that the implications of the doctrine for Mary’s public function as an exemplar of Christian womanhood was a factor in the sectarian debate over Immaculate Conception theology. The chapter also explores popular visual depictions of Mary in art books, art exhibitions, lithographs, magazine illustrations, and other reproductions and examines the gender characteristics transmitted by these Marian images.Less

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Conflict and Conversation, 1854–1855

Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez

in The Valiant Woman: The Virgin Mary in Nineteenth-Century American Culture

This chapter treats the 1854 declaration of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary as Catholic dogma. The process leading up to and culminating in the declaration received detailed (and often ... More

This chapter treats the 1854 declaration of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary as Catholic dogma. The process leading up to and culminating in the declaration received detailed (and often biased) coverage in the United States’ press. The proclamation, Ineffabilis Deus, intensified and publicized an intractable theological disagreement between Protestants and Catholics. Its culmination surprised many American Protestants: with its strong affirmation of Catholic theological distinctiveness, it was a step away from conciliation. The debate that followed the proclamation offers a unique window onto popular understandings of Mary’s role. The chapter examines the broad outlines of Protestant anti-Catholic attacks and on Catholic apologetics for the doctrine, the reception of the doctrine by both communities, and the role that Mary played in signifying religious identity.Less

A Focus on Christian Experience: The Protestant Cursillos (Tres Dias, Walk to Emmaus, Via de Cristo) and the National Episcopal Cursillo

Kristy Nabhan-Warren

in The Cursillo Movement in America: Catholics, Protestants, and Fourth-Day Spirituality

This chapter shows how mainline American Protestants had heard enough about the Catholic Cursillo weekend to be convinced that they had to experience the three days for themselves. What they were ... More

This chapter shows how mainline American Protestants had heard enough about the Catholic Cursillo weekend to be convinced that they had to experience the three days for themselves. What they were hearing was exciting and intriguing; Catholic friends and relatives talked about changed lives, new relationships with Christ, improved marriages, and, generally speaking, new outlooks on life as a result of their weekend experience. American Catholic cursillistas spoke with enough conviction and passion that they inspired Protestants from a variety of traditions to seek out and make a Catholic Cursillo. In the 1960s and 1970s, Protestants were able to make a Catholic Cursillo weekend in the Diocese of Peoria. It was a small group of Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopalian laymen and women who, moved by their experiences during their Catholic Cursillo weekends, formed their own movements based directly on the Catholic Cursillo method.Less

Ambiguous Welcome: The Protestant Response to American Catholics

Patrick Allitt

in Roman Catholicism in the United States: A Thematic History

This chapter examines aspects of American Catholic history that lay outside the commonly told story of parishes and immigrants by surveying the efforts of American Protestants—from the colonial era ... More

This chapter examines aspects of American Catholic history that lay outside the commonly told story of parishes and immigrants by surveying the efforts of American Protestants—from the colonial era to the present—to properly map that Catholic place in the life of their nation and their own religious sensibilities. It shows how the ambivalent greeting initially extended to Catholic immigrants by U.S. Protestants was shelved for outright hostility during the nativist era prior to the Civil War, when the mass emigration of impoverished, famine-stricken Irish Catholics greatly aggravated preexisting fears of “popish superstition.” At the same time a number of Protestants—often from elite backgrounds—found themselves powerfully drawn to Catholic art and ritual, and more than a few took the plunge into religious conversion.Less

A Larger Vision: The Quest for Christian Unity

David Mislin

in Saving Faith: Making Religious Pluralism an American Value at the Dawn of the Secular Age

This chapter examines a failed campaign in the early twentieth century to reunite Protestantism and Catholicism into a single Christian church. Despite the small number of supporters for Christian ... More

This chapter examines a failed campaign in the early twentieth century to reunite Protestantism and Catholicism into a single Christian church. Despite the small number of supporters for Christian unity, their efforts provide crucial insight into the liberal Protestants' engagement with religious diversity within Christianity. By imagining a universal church, advocates of unity suggested that there were no points of disagreement within Christianity that could not be overcome. Newman Smyth and other advocates of unity attempted to use the spirit of national solidarity during World War I to encourage support for their cause. Ultimately, the campaign for unity achieved little; yet, it reflected American Protestants' shift in their views regarding religious pluralism. Many liberal Protestants who rejected the calls for unity did so because they saw nothing wrong with different forms of belief and practice within a divided Christianity.Less

Racial Insularity and Ethnic Faith: The Emerging Korean American Religious Elite

Jerry Z. Park

in Sustaining Faith Traditions: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion among the Latino and Asian American Second Generation

This chapter talks about how Korean American Protestant students at elite universities are more likely to maintain ethnic solidarity and group identity because of hybridized ethnoreligion. In the ... More

This chapter talks about how Korean American Protestant students at elite universities are more likely to maintain ethnic solidarity and group identity because of hybridized ethnoreligion. In the racialized university environment, Korean Americans are lumped with other Asian Americans in programs and studies. In choosing which campus organizations to attend, Korean American students have organizational options already based on ethnicity, accepting these racialized and ethnic identities as “the way things are.” The chapter's findings reveal that not only are Korean Americans more Protestant and religiously observant than their fellow Asian Americans are, but their churches are also more likely to be racially insular compared to other minorities. This insularity stems from a worldview that unifies Korean and Protestant identities. This merging of ethnic and religious identities is a process of hybridization that takes on uniquely American characteristics.Less

Conversion and “Community” in Amazonia

Robert W. Hefner

in Conversion to Christianity: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives on a Great Transformation

This chapter describes the new cosmology of comunidade, or “community,” in Amazonia. It also considers how the Culina Indians have responded to two different forms of missionization, one Catholic, ... More

This chapter describes the new cosmology of comunidade, or “community,” in Amazonia. It also considers how the Culina Indians have responded to two different forms of missionization, one Catholic, the other Protestant. In particular, it addresses the work of two of the principal missionary groups, the American Protestant Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and the Brazilian Catholic Conselho Indigenista Missionário, in the discussion of the Culina. CIMI missionaries have initiated several projects among the Culina, all of which have so far failed to stimulate interest or villagewide support. Culina become distinctly uncomfortable in multiethnic or pan-Indian contexts. SIL saw literacy as a means to deliver the Word of God to individuals.Less