Salvation In The Slums

Did advocates of the social gospel carry the burden of humanitarian aid during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Were evangelicals content merely to maintain the status quo and avoid ameliorating the plight of the needy? Focusing upon the period from the Civil War to about 1920, this study attempts to portray the sizeable body of Christians whose extensive welfare activities and concern sprang similarly from their passion for evangelism and personal holiness, writes the author. He meticulously traces the urban welfare activities of the Salvation Army, the Volunteers of America, the Christian Missionary and Alliance, multiple rescue missions and homes, and the religious journal 'Christian Herald'.

Drawing on traditional archival research, reception theory, cultural histories of slumming, and recent work in critical theory on literary representations of poverty, Westgate argues that the productions of slum plays served as enactments of the emergent definitions of the slum and the corresponding ethical obligations involved therein.

Covering the entire period from the colonial era to the late twentieth century, this book is the first scholarly history of the homeless in America. Drawing on sources that include records of charitable organizations, sociological studies, and numerous memoirs of formerly homeless persons, Kusmer demonstrates that the homeless have been a significant presence on the American scene for over two hundred years. He probes the history of homelessness from a variety of angles, showing why people become homeless; how charities and public authorities dealt with this social problem; and the diverse ways in which different class, ethnic, and racial groups perceived and responded to homelessness. Kusmer demonstrates that, despite the common perception of the homeless as a deviant group, they have always had much in common with the average American. Focusing on the millions who suffered downward mobility, Down and Out, On the Road provides a unique view of the evolution of American society and raises disturbing questions about the repeated failure to face and solve the problem of homelessness.

"A definitive history of homelessness in the United States..." -- page 4 of cover.

"During the Progressive Era, a period of unprecedented ingenuity, women evangelists built the old time religion with brick and mortar, uniforms and automobiles, fresh converts and devoted protégés. Across America, entrepreneurial women founded churches, denominations, religious training schools, rescue homes, rescue missions, and evangelistic organizations. Until now, these intrepid women have gone largely unnoticed, though their collective yet unchoreographed decision to build institutions in the service of evangelism marked a seismic shift in American Christianity. In this ground-breaking study, Priscilla Pope-Levison dusts off the unpublished letters, diaries, sermons, and yearbooks of these pioneers to share their personal tribulations and public achievements. The effect is staggering. With an uncanny eye for essential details and a knack for historical nuance, Pope-Levison breathes life into not just one or two of these women, but two dozen. The evangelistic empire of Aimee Semple McPherson represents the pinnacle of this shift from itinerancy to institution building. Her name remains legendary. Yet she built her institutions on the foundation of the work of women evangelists who preceded her. Their stories -- untold until now -- reveal the cunning and strength of women who forged a path for every generation, including our own, to follow."--Back cover.

One objective all Christians hold in common is to grow in maturity and faithfulness. Achieving that goal, however, is a constant and difficult challenge. Ethicist Kenneth W. M. Wozniak shows how the author of the epistle to the Hebrews argued that the mature Christian life is a disciplined one lived consistently in the moral realm of human experience. Although the authority for such living traditionally has been the picture of Jesus as found in the Gospels, that picture is only a partial and incomplete one. It does not include Hebrews’ essential depiction of the current, living Jesus—both exalted Son and High Priest—who is the focus of worship and whom Christians claim to follow. Wozniak argues that only the often-ignored Jesus of Hebrews, when coupled with the Jesus pictured in the Gospels, is the complete Jesus Christians must obey, emulate, and implant within themselves if they are to live as mature followers of Jesus; it is to this Jesus that they must respond if they are to live faithfully as those who claim “Jesus is Lord!”