Aaron Griffith. Dissertation
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American Law and Gospel: Evangelicals in the Age of Mass Incarceration by Aaron Griffith Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Kate Bowler, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Grant Wacker, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Lauren Winner ___________________________ Molly Worthen Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Theology in the Divinity School of Duke University 2018 i v ABSTRACT American Law and Gospel: Evangelicals in the Age of Mass Incarceration by Aaron Griffith Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Kate Bowler, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Grant Wacker, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Lauren Winner ___________________________ Molly Worthen An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Theology in the Divinity School of Duke University 2018 Copyright by Aaron Griffith 2018 Abstract This dissertation charts the history of evangelical Christian influence in American criminal justice and prisons in the second half of the twentieth century. A work of cultural history that draws upon archival sources, newspapers and magazines, governmental records, and interviews, it explores the connection of the dramatic rise in imprisonment and the surge in evangelicalism’s popularity during this period. Evangelicals outpaced nearly all other religious and social constituencies in their interest in crime and punishment. They led the way on all sides of political battles regarding criminal justice and incarceration: some pushed for “law and order,” while others launched reform efforts. They built ministries to delinquents and inmates, revolutionizing prisons’ religious culture. In sum, this dissertation’s central argument is that crime and prison concern are central to evangelical entry into American public life, and that one cannot understand the creation, maintenance, or reform of modern American criminal justice without accounting for evangelicalism’s impact. This dissertation makes two additional arguments about the precise relationship of evangelicalism to mass incarceration. First, evangelicals not only lobbied for policies and voted for politicians that helped build America’s carceral state, they also helped make these changes appealing to other citizens. Unlike much of the previous work on twentieth-century evangelicalism (particularly their influence in politics), this dissertation frames the movement not in terms of backlash or culture warring, but consensus. Postwar evangelicals framed their own religious movement as reputable, racially moderate, and politically savvy, and they iv helped to do the same for the cause of punishment, bolstering law enforcement’s “neutral” quality, colorblind aspirations, and respectable status. Second, this dissertation argues for the political import of evangelical soul saving, often overlooked by scholars who characterize the movement’s conversionism as individualistic or neglectful of issues of social change. I show how, though unapologetically spiritual in focus, evangelical concern with crime and punishment opened the eyes of some conservative Protestants to the needs of juvenile delinquents and prison inmates, leading them to solidarity with offenders and new forms of reform work. v For Eliza vi Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. x Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 11 Method ........................................................................................................................ 17 Historiography ............................................................................................................ 19 Chapter Outline ........................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 1: “Churchdom’s War on Crime” ........................................................................ 30 Prisons, Revivalism, and Reform ................................................................................ 35 A New Religious Crime War ...................................................................................... 41 Preaching Punishment and “the sword of justice” ...................................................... 47 Highlighting “the social matrix”: Crime and Progressive Religion ............................ 60 One Problem, One Solution ........................................................................................ 71 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 89 Chapter 2: “Jesus Christ is the only control” .................................................................... 95 Youth for Christ, Billy Graham, and the Conversion of Criminals .......................... 101 Ministry to Juvenile Delinquents .............................................................................. 119 The Cross, Switchblade, and Evangelical Public Impact ......................................... 131 Crime Concern and Culture-Making ........................................................................ 137 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 152 Chapter 3: Evangelical Law and Order ........................................................................... 161 Going Public ............................................................................................................. 168 vii Law, Order, and the Evangelical Mind ..................................................................... 175 Countering Revolution .............................................................................................. 189 Lockdown ................................................................................................................. 211 Race, Crime, and Colorblind Justice ......................................................................... 221 Golden State Discipline ............................................................................................ 231 Chapter 4: An Errand to the Prison ................................................................................. 242 Old Time Prison Religion ......................................................................................... 247 A Prison Revival ....................................................................................................... 251 Elton Trueblood and Yokefellows ........................................................................... 253 Bill Simmer and Good News Prison Ministry ......................................................... 259 Bill Glass ................................................................................................................. 265 Chaplain Ray and International Prison Ministry ................................................... 277 Impact ....................................................................................................................... 283 Unresolved Tensions ................................................................................................. 295 Chaplaincy and Other Faiths .................................................................................. 296 Contested Conversions and Colorblindness ........................................................... 301 A Captive Audience? ............................................................................................... 310 Chapter 5: “There Are Better Ways” .............................................................................. 320 Conserving Justice .................................................................................................... 325 Political Consequences ............................................................................................. 342 Thorns in the Flesh .................................................................................................... 347 Restoring Justice ....................................................................................................... 361 Remaining Tensions .................................................................................................. 376 viii Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 388 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 391 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 399 Biography ........................................................................................................................ 421 ix Acknowledgements Research for this project was funded in part by a dissertation fellowship from the Center for the Study of Philanthropy and Voluntarism at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. The Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives generously provided me travel and research funds through its Lynn E. May Study Grant. I am also grateful to the team at the Billy Graham Center Archives