Holy Humanitarians : American Evangelicals and Global Aid / Heather D. Curtis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Curtis, Heather D., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christian Herald (Firm).

Christian herald.

Humanitarian assistance, American--History--20th century.

Humanitarian assistance, American.

Evangelicalism--United States--History--20th century.

Evangelicalism.

Christianity in mass media--History--20th century.

Christianity in mass media.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (370 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

On May 10, 1900, an enthusiastic Brooklyn crowd bid farewell to the Quito. The ship sailed for famine-stricken Bombay, carrying both tangible relief-thousands of tons of corn and seeds-and "a tender message of love and sympathy from God's children on this side of the globe to those on the other." The Quito may never have gotten under way without support from the era's most influential religious newspaper, the Christian Herald, which urged its American readers to alleviate poverty and suffering abroad and at home. In Holy Humanitarians, Heather D. Curtis argues that evangelical media campaigns transformed how Americans responded to domestic crises and foreign disasters during a pivotal period for the nation. Through graphic reporting and the emerging medium of photography, evangelical publishers fostered a tremendously popular movement of faith-based aid that rivaled the achievements of competing agencies like the American Red Cross. By maintaining that the United States was divinely ordained to help the world's oppressed and needy, the Christian Herald linked humanitarian assistance with American nationalism at a time when the country was stepping onto the global stage. Social reform, missionary activity, disaster relief, and economic and military expansion could all be understood as integral features of Christian charity. Drawing on rigorous archival research, Curtis lays bare the theological motivations, social forces, cultural assumptions, business calculations, and political dynamics that shaped America's ambivalent embrace of evangelical philanthropy. In the process she uncovers the seeds of today's heated debates over the politics of poverty relief and international aid.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. A Religious Paper Thoroughly Humanitarian

2. Cosmopolitan Compassion

3. We Are Fighting for Philanthropy

4. Almoner of the World

5. The Limits of Evangelical Benevolence

6. To Safeguard Christian America

7. A Shifting Landscape

Epilogue

Abbreviations

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 20. Sep 2019)

ISBN:

9780674985889

0674985885

9780674985902

0674985907

OCLC:

1055763919