Abstract
In his 1920s novel Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis provided a memorable portrait—indeed a parody—of a YMCA Week of Prayer gathering at fictional Terwillinger College. At the center of his depiction was state college YMCA Secretary Judson Roberts, a former standout in football, baseball, and debate at the University of Chicago. Nicknamed “the praying fullback,” Roberts applied his aggressive personality to campus revival meetings. While he could bring audiences to tears with his descriptions of “the Christchild,” Lewis noted, he could also have them “stretching with admiration as he arched his big shoulder-muscles and observed that he would knock the block off any sneering, sneaking, lying, beer-bloated bully who should dare to come up to him in a meeting and try to throw a monkey-wrench into the machinery by a lot of quibbling, atheistic, smart-aleck doubts.” He was, Lewis editorialized, “a real red-blooded regular fellow!” Roberts urged admiring onlookers to consider career missionary work and then to “think how clean and pure and manly you’d want to be if you were going to carry the joys of Christianity to a lot of poor gazebos that are under the evil spell of Buddhism.”1 Irrevocably linking physical and spiritual commitment, he urged undergraduates to embark on a regimen of exercise and cold baths, noting that bodily strength was a necessary prerequisite for spiritual labor.
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Notes
Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry (New York: Hardcourt, Brace, and Company, 1927), 36–37.
Mark Schorer, Sinclair Lewis: An American Life (New York: McGraw Hill, 1961), 74.
Clifford Putney, Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880–1920 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001).
Gail Bederman, “‘The Women Have Had Charge of the Church Work Long Enough’: The Men and Religion Forward Movement of 1911–1912 and the Masculinization of Middle-Class Protestantism,” American Quarterly 41, no. 3 (September 1989): 432.
Bird Baldwin, “The Boy of High School Age: The Moral and Religious Development of the Adolescent Boy,” Religious Education 8 (1913): 23.
See also David Macleod, Building Character in the American Boy: The Boy Scouts, The YMCA, and Their Forerunners (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1981), 43.
Richard Hughes, “The Churches and the Religious Problem in State Universities,” Religious Education 10, no. 2 (April 1915): 184.
See also William Rainey Harper, The Trend in Higher Education (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1905), 197.
Josiah Strong, The Times and Young Men (New York: Baker & Taylor, 1901), 179–180.
Lawrence J. Dennis, From Prayer to Pragmatism: A Biography of John L. Childs (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Press, 1992), 20.
John R. Mott, The Future Leadership of the Church (New York: Student Department Young Men’s Christian Association, 1908), 85–86.
See also T.W. Graham, “The Importance of Recruiting Strong Men for the Ministry,” in Report of the Lake Forest Summer School 1911 (New York: Association Press, 1911), 131–135. AYSD, Box 68, Folder 925.
Bosworth, The Modern Interpretation of the Call to the Ministry, 11. See also William F. McDowell, “The Claims of the Ministry upon College Students,” Int 26, no. 8 (May 1904): 173.
T.J. Jackson Lears, No Place of Grace: Antimodernism and the Transformation of American Culture, 1880–1920 (New York: Pantheon Books, 1981), 26–32. Female school teachers constituted 59% of all teachers in 1870, but that number had escalated to 86% by 1920.
See G. Stanley Hall, “Feminization in School and Home,” World’s Work 16 (1908): 10238.
A number of authors have recently addressed the crisis of masculinity in terms of economic shifts. See Margaret L. Bendroth, Fundamentalism and Gender, 1875 to the Present (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), 17; Bederman, “The Women Have Had Charge of the Church Work Long Enough,” 432–465;
E. Anthony Rotundo, American Manhood: Transformations in Masculinity from the Revolution to the Modern Era (New York: BasicBooks, 1993), 248.
For popular books, see, for example, Carl Case, The Masculine in Religion (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1906);
Jason Pierce, The Masculine Power of Christ (Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1912);
Jasper Massee, Men and the Kingdom (New York: Fleming Revell, 1912). The Men and Religion Forward Movement was also a direct result of this enthusiasm, promising “more men for religion and more religion for men.” See Putney, Muscular Christianity, 99–126;
L. Dean Allen, Rise up, O Men of God: The Men and Religion Forward Movement and the Promise Keepers (Atlanta: Mercer University Press, 2002).
Kett, Rites of Passage, 173. On Roosevelt, see John Higham, Writing American History: Essays in Modern Scholarship (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1970), 78–88.
Henry Churchill King, How to Make a Rational Fight for Character (New York: Young Men’s Christian Association Press, 1911), 5–6.
Peter I. Berg, “A Mission on the Midway: Amos Alonzo Stagg and the Gospel of Football” (Ph.D. diss., Michigan State University, 1996), 24–79;
Erin A. McCarthy, “Making Men: The Life and Career of Amos Alonzo Stagg, 1862–1933” (Ph.D. diss., Loyola University, 1994), 56–76, 86–96;
Amos Alonzo Stagg, Touchdown! (New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1927), 130–131.
Mott to the Presidents of the College Associations of North America, October 1, 1897. JRMP, Box 144, Folder 2369. See also Bible Study Department, “Some Facts Relating to Bible Study among Students,” Int 26, no. 9 (June 1904): 210;
Cooper, “Campaign for Fifty Thousand College Men in Bible Classes,” Int 30, no. 1 (October 1907): 14–15.
L. Wilbur Messer, Christ as a Personal Worker: Topics and Methods for Workers’ Bible Training Classes (New York: YMCA International Committee, 1891);
H. Clay Trumbull, Individual Work for Individuals: A Record of Personal Experiences and Convictions (New York: YMCA International Committee, 1901); Mott, “Bible Study,” 3; “The Bible Class,” Int 11, no. 3 (January 1889): 8.
Robert E. Speer, Studies in the Gospel of Luke (New York: International Committee of YMCA, 1892); Studies in the Book of Acts (New York: International Committee of YMCA, 1892);
Wilbert Webster White, Thirty Studies in Jeremiah (New York: International Committee of YMCA, 1896); Inductive Studies in the Twelve Minor Prophets (Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1892);
Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed, William Rainey Harper (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1928), 75; “Inductive Bible Studies on the Books of Samuel,” Int 11, no. 5 (May 1889): 11–12; Morgan, Student Religion during Fifty Years, 44, 53.
John R. Mott, The Morning Watch (New York: International Committee of Young Men’s Christian Association, 1898), 5. JRMP, Box 137, Folder 2208. See also Mott, The Bible Study Department, 8.
Harper, “What Can Universities and Colleges Do for the Religious Life of Their Students?” in The Aim of Religious Education: The Proceedings of the Third Annual Convention of the Religious Education Association (Chicago, 1905), 37–38; “President Harper on Bible Study,” Int 27, no. 8 (May 1905): 182–183.
O.E. Brown, “Relation of Association Bible Study to Curriculum Work,” Int 32, no. 3 (December 1909): 59–63.
Herbert W. Gates, “What We Have a Right to Expect from Bible Study and How the Objective May Be Attained,” in College Leadership (1909), 57–61. AYSD, Box 68, Folder 925.
Austin Evans to Neil McMillan, February 8, 1911. AYSD, Box 56, Folder 806. See also Clayton S. Cooper, Things Which Make a Bible Class Effective (New York: Young Men’s Christian Association Press, 1908), 1.
Clayton S. Cooper, College Men and the Bible (New York: Association Press, 1911), 130–131; The Bible and Modern Life (New York: Funk and Wagnalls Co., 1911), 139–143. See also “The International Student Bible Conference, Columbus, Ohio, October 22–25, 1908,” 1–2. AWSCF, Box 65, Folder 530.
Based upon Stevens and Burton’s A Harmony of the Gospels, these materials, published in 1896 as Studies in the Life of Christ, sold 8,500 copies in their first year. n.a., This One Thing: A Tribute to Henry Burton Sharman (Toronto: Thistle Printing, 1959), 27–36. Other popular texts at this time included: Henry Burton Sharman, William Arnold Stevens, and Ernest De Witt Burton, Studies in the Life of Christ (1896);
Edward Increase Bosworth and Ernest De Witt Burton, Studies in the Acts and Epistles (1898);
Wilbert Webster White, Studies in Old Testament Characters (1900);
Wilbert Webster White, Old Testament Records, Poems, and Addresses (1900);
Edward Bosworth, Studies in the Teachings of Jesus Christ and His Apostles (1903);
Edward Bosworth, Studies in the Life of Jesus Christ (1904),
Robert A. Falconer, The Truth of the Apostolic Gospel (1904);
William H. Sallmon, Studies in the Life of Paul for Bible Classes and Private Use (1896); Studies in the Life of Jesus for Bible Classes and Private Use (1897); Studies in the Parables of Jesus Recorded by Matthew (1906); Studies in the Miracles of Jesus, Recorded by Matthew (1903).
In 1902 alone, the association sold 14,302 volumes of the new Bible study materials. APJRM, 55, 104. H.B. Sharman, “A Four Years’ Cycle of Bible Study: Its Plan and Advantages,” Int 21, no. 1 (October 1898): 10–11.
Reynolds, Fisher, and Wright, Two Centuries of Christian Activity at Yale, 124; Gabriel, Religion and Learning at Yale, 197; William H. Sallmon, How We Built up the Bible Study Department at Yale (New York: The International Committee of Young Men’s Christian Associations, 1893), 13. AWSCF, Box 66, Folder 532.
Cited in Susan Curtis, “The Son of Man and God the Father: The Social Gospel and Victorian Masculinity,” in Mark Carnes and Clyde Griffen, eds. Meanings for Manhood (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 72–75.
Harry Emerson Fosdick, The Manhood of the Master (New York: Association Press, 1913), 9, 13, 89, 96, 161.
On the committee itself, see “The Denominations’ Part in the College Voluntary Study Courses,” 3. AYSD, Box 58, Folder 821. See also “College Voluntary Study Series: A Series of Graded Studies for Use in Non-Curriculum Classes in Sunday Schools and Student Christian Associations.” AYSD, Box 58, Folder 821; Harrison Elliott, “Voluntary Bible Study: Its Place in the Religious Education of Students,” Religious Education 7 (February 1913): 715–716.
Harrison Elliott and Ethel Cutler, Student Standards of Action (New York: Association Press, 1914); “Student Standards of Action,” NAS 3, no. 1 (October 1914): 34.
J. Lovell Murray and Frederick M. Harris, Christian Standards of Life (New York: National Board of the Young Women’s Christian Associations, 1915).
“Commission on Bible Study and Mission Study,” 54. Report of the Lake Forest Summer School, 1910. AYSD, Box 68, Folder 925; Sallmon, How We Built up the Bible Study Department at Yale, 5. Increasingly, faculty and general secretaries were called upon to head up weekly “normal classes” designed for the training of student Bible study leaders and periodic “Bible study institutes” for more significant training. By 1908, there were about 140 regular normal classes operating and approximately 250 institutes held around the country. See “The Faculty Man and Student Bible Study,” 192; Int 31, no. 2 (November 1908): 32–34; Clayton S. Cooper, “The Bible Institute,” Int 27, no. 2 (November 1904): 38–39;
Clayton S. Cooper, The Training of Bible Teachers (New York, Young Men’s Christian Association Press, 1910), 5.
Such a move did not go unchallenged. The North American Council of the YMCA accused Elliott of minimizing the Bible’s role by making it an “indirect” rather than a “direct” source of authority. See E.A. Corbett, “Letters to the Editor,” NAS 3, no. 5 (February 1915): 224. For Elliott’s response, see Elliott, “Action of North American Council—April 16 and April 21, 1914.” AYSD, Box 57, Folder 808.
Frederick M. Harris, “Letters to the Editor,” NAS 3, no. 6 (March 1915): 314.
Ibid. See also Gerald Ray Krick, “Harvard Volunteers: A History of Undergraduate Volunteer Social Service Work at Harvard” (Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 1970), 54–55; Harvard Christian Association, 1902–1903 Annual Report, 1. Harvard University Archives.
Hugh A. Moran, “The Rhodes Scholarship and the Student Christian Movement,” Int 30, no. 9 (June 1908): 201.
French also completed statues of Joseph Henry and Benjamin Franklin at Palmer Hall, John Harvard in Cambridge, Alma Mater at Columbia University, and Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. See Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion (Princeton University Press, 1978).
Putney, Muscular Christianity, 23; David O. Levine, The American College and the Culture of Aspiration, 1915–1940 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986), 76, 123–126;
Burton J. Bledstein, The Culture of Professionalism: The Middle Class and the Development of Higher Education in America (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1976), 135, 254–255.
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© 2007 David P. Setran
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Setran, D.P. (2007). A Muscular Faith. In: The College “Y”. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230603387_6
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