Left Public Life and Its Association with Religion through the 1880s to the 1920s

Sarah Grimme

Date of Award

2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Fitzgerald, Keith

Keywords

Intellectual History, Progressive Movement, Social Gospel

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

This thesis is an intellectual history investigating the connection and pattern between the Progressive Movement (1890-1920s) and religious literature. The Social Gospel Movement (1880-1910s) is used as a starting point for a discussion on the theological concepts and debates of the Progressive Age. Josiah Strong, a conservative Congregationalist minister and founder of Social Gospel theory, and Walter Rauschenbusch, a liberal supporter of the Social Gospel Movement, were studied. Jane Addams, the founder of the Hull House, and Frances Willard, president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), were studied due to their importance as leaders of major social activist organizations. Addams and Willard were also part of a growing population of female social activists that were being forced to question religious justifications and limitations of female public actions. John Dewey was discussed in the conclusion as his personal evolution mirrored the larger discussion about the place of religion in left public life. This thesis found a decline in the usage of religious rhetoric in the Progressive Movement that coincided with debates about the differences between religion as an institution and religious beliefs.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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