CORNFLAKES, GOD, and CIRCUMCISION: JOHN HARVEY KELLOGG and TRANSATLANTIC HEALTH REFORM by AUSTIN ELI LOIGNON DISSERTATION Submi
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CORNFLAKES, GOD, AND CIRCUMCISION: JOHN HARVEY KELLOGG AND TRANSATLANTIC HEALTH REFORM by AUSTIN ELI LOIGNON DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Texas at Arlington May, 2019 Arlington, Texas Supervising Committee: Steven G. Reinhardt, Supervising Professor Kathryne E. Beebe Robert B. Fairbanks Copyright © by Austin Eli Loignon 2019 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Cornflakes, God, and Circumcision: John Harvey Kellogg and Transatlantic Health Reform Austin Eli Loignon, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2019 Supervising Professor: Steven G. Reinhardt The health reform movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth century impacted American and European societies in profound ways. These reforms, while usually represented in a national context, existed within a transatlantic framework that facilitated a multitude of exchanges and transfers. John Harvey Kellogg—surgeon, health reformer, and inventor of cornflakes— developed a transatlantic network of health reformers, medical practitioners, and scientists to improve his own reforms and establish new ones. Through intercultural transfer Kellogg borrowed, modified, and implemented European health reform practices at his Battle Creek Sanitarium in the United States. These transfers facilitated developments in reform movements such as vegetarianism, light therapy, sex, and eugenics. While health reform movements were a product of the modern world in which science and rationality were given preference, Kellogg infused his religious, Seventh-day Adventist beliefs into the reforms he practiced. In some cases health reform movements were previously semi-religious in nature and Kellogg merely accentuated an already present narrative of religious obligation for reform. These beliefs in salvific health reform centered around Kellogg’s desire to perfect the human body physically and spiritually in an attempt to make it fit for translation into heaven. To my wife and family for their long-suffering support and patience in having to hear about Kellogg on a constant basis, and to Thomas Adam…professor, mentor, friend Acknowledgements Throughout my journey as a doctoral student I was repeatedly told that history is never a solitary endeavor. I can attest to this, as I would not have been able to complete my research without the support and expertise of certain individuals. Above all, I must begin with acknowledging three persons who regretfully passed away before they could see the completion of my work. The first is Aquila Read (1933-2017) of Keene, Texas, who personally financed my research and provided her support and encouragement. The second is Alfredo Vergel (1974-2018), who served as a librarian and head of the Adventist Heritage Center at Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, Texas for nine years. Alfredo was instrumental in helping me to narrow the focus of my research into Kellogg’s religious background and instructing me on how to utilize the digital records of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Archives. Lastly, I was humbled by my friend and colleague Ben McArthur (1951-2017), professor of history at Southern Adventist University, who reviewed my work and gave suggestions while in his hospital bed. There are no words to express the gratitude I have for my committee. To Steven Reinhardt for his sage wisdom and advice. To Kathryne Beebe for her dedication in seeing my project through and indoctrinating me into the Medieval World. And to Robert Fairbanks, who generously sponsored my research at the Vatican Library. You all have my respect and undying thanks. I would like to thank Bill and Yvonne Baker for their financial support in purchasing sources and books that were not readily available through the library or archives, as well as Bill and Sue Guinn for the same. I would like to acknowledge Sue Guinn especially for the use of her private family papers that related to Kellogg. My friend and colleague Teresa Pritchett, archivist of the Adventist Heritage Center at Southwestern Adventist University, took over where Alfredo left off. I would like to thank her for keeping me on point in my research as well as dedicating an inordinate amount of time digging through microfilm in search of sources for me. I would like to thank Jamie Cruz, Ethan and Laura Muse, and my friend and colleague Erhard van Deventer for reviewing my work, and our late-night discussions where I formed many new ideas and opinions from their questions and observations. I would like to acknowledge James Sandy, to whom I have been assigned as a teaching assistant for the last year, for his understanding of my stress in trying to finish my work and his helping me in managing my time. Lastly, I would like to thank my grandmother, Helen Johnson, for her copy-editing services. Contents Abstract Dedication Acknowledgments Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 I.1 From Cornflakes to Obscurity ............................................................................1 I.2 Kellogg as a Transatlantic Figure .......................................................................5 I.3 Kellogg as an Agent of Intercultural Transfer ....................................................7 I.4 Organization .....................................................................................................10 Chapter 1: The Gospel of Health .......................................................................................14 1.1 Conflicting Giants ............................................................................................14 1.2 Son of a Prophet: Kellogg, Ellen G. White, and Their Church .............................................................................................19 1.3 The Miracle of Science: Faith and Medicine in Late Nineteenth-Century Europe .................................................................44 1.4 The Gospel According to Kellogg: Shaping Health Reform into a Religion .........................................................................51 1.5 Conclusion: The Greater Gospel ......................................................................61 Chapter 2: Pure Food .........................................................................................................65 2.1 The Need for Pure Food ...................................................................................65 2.2 The Roots of European Vegetarianism ............................................................69 2.3 Vegetarianism an Issue of Health and Commodity ................................................................................................79 2.4 Eating God .......................................................................................................91 2.5 Conclusion: Salvific Vegetarianism in a Health Movement ......................................................................................97 Chapter 3: Good Sex ........................................................................................................101 3.1 The Need for Good and Righteous Sex ..........................................................................................101 3.2 Western Europeans have Sex .........................................................................103 3.3 Americans have Sex, Adventists Too ............................................................113 3.4 If Thy Right Hand Offend Thee: Masturbation and Circumcision ...........................................................................................123 3.5 Conclusion: Pure in Body and Spirit .............................................................139 Chapter 4: The Healing Light ..........................................................................................143 4.1 Let there be Light ...........................................................................................143 4.2 Radiotherapie and Röntgentherapie ..............................................................147 4.3 Kellogg and Auguste Rollier’s La Cure de Soleil ...........................................................................................154 4.4 Creating the Sun: Finsen, Actinotherapy, and Kellogg ....................................................................................................163 4.5 Bringing Light to the World: Kellogg and Infrared Light Therapy ............................................................................169 4.6 Sol Invictus: Heliotherapy’s Cultural Impact ................................................175 4.7 Conclusion: The Light Shines into Darkness .................................................186 Chapter 5: Saving the Race ..............................................................................................188 5.1 The Problem of Degeneracy ..........................................................................188 5.2 The Solution ...................................................................................................194 5.3 “How to Make Our Country Great” ...............................................................209 5.4 God Wills It: Kellogg and Theistic Eugenics ....................................................................................222 5.5 Conclusion: Kellogg’s Greater Gospel ..........................................................229 Conclusion: Fit for Translation ........................................................................................233