ABSTRACT
From the turn of the century to the end of the Second World War, American Protestantism exerted tremendous influence on American society, especially through programs of social reform known as the Social Gospel. The Social Gospel movement sought to “Christianize the social order” and key aspects of the movement influenced public health programs and policies, both in the United States and in global contexts. A robust program of foreign missions influenced global health and development practices in the era and also contributed to a number of non-religious initiatives through government and civil society that would set the stage for global health and development efforts in the latter half of the twentieth century.
At the same time, however, disagreements on various social issues led to the fragmentation of a unified vision among a broad cross-section of American Protestants. The reforms of the Social Gospel would not be sustained under that name and liberal Protestantism would wrestle with a crisis of confidence. Nonetheless, many of the Social Gospel ideals would find various institutional homes to influence the United States government’s foreign policy priorities.
The chapter concludes with a case study of the Rockefeller family as a way to trace these shifts over the decades from the early to mid-twentieth century and to demonstrate the ways in which American Protestantism played a significant role in establishing the field of public health and the federal government’s foreign aid programs.
