Christian Citizenship and the Foreign Work of the Ymca
CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP AND THE FOREIGN WORK OF THE YMCA By REBECCA ANN HODGES A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in HISTORY in the Graduate Division of the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY COMMITTEE IN CHARGE: Professor Rebecca McLennan, Chair Professor David Henkin Professor Wendy Brown SUMMER 2017 1 Copyright 2017 by Rebecca Ann Hodges All Rights Reserved 1 ABSTRACT CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP AND THE FOREIGN WORK OF THE YMCA by Rebecca Ann Hodges Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor Rebecca McLennan, Chair Beginning in the last decade of the nineteenth century, Christian reformers of the North American Young Men’s Christian Association and related organizations set themselves the task of training the rising leadership of nations around the world in a set of ideals they termed “Christian citizenship.” Motivated by ideas about God’s universal grace, by liberal ideals of personhood, and by fears of moral crisis, the middle class evangelical reformers of the YMCA, the YWCA, the Student Volunteer Movement (SVM), and the World’s Student Christian Federation (WSCF) sought not only to “evangelize the world in this generation,” but to teach good citizenship and encourage fair play among individuals and among nations—to foster ideals of justice, equality, and democracy among their constituencies in China, Japan, India, and beyond, in a millennial project ultimately designed to save the world, politically as well as spiritually. From the 1890s into the 1920s, Christian reformers dedicated themselves to the work of imparting the ideals of “Christian citizenship” through educational, social, and religious programs, as well as through training in sports and sportsmanship.
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