The United States has led the world in almost every way since World War I. In 1941, Life magazine publisher Henry Luce dubbed his country’s preponderant power “the American Century.” His editorial was a statement of fact but also an aspiration for countrymen to unite in promotion of a world order friendly to American interests. Faith and Foreign Affairs in the American Century examines the nature of public involvement in American diplomacy. As a concept decades in the making, the American Century was conceived by those connected through the country’s leading foreign policy think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations. The missionary couple and Washington insiders Francis and Helen Miller, who fought to make the American empire a radically democratic one, figured prominently in that work. The Millers’ many partnerships embodied the conflicts as well as the cooperation of Christianity and secularism in the long reimagining of the United States as a global state. Mark Thomas Edwards offers in this study a genealogy of the concept of the American Century. Readers will encounter moments of Protestant Christian power and marginalization in the making of modern American foreign relations.
Author(s): Mark Thomas Edwards
Series: Religion In American History
Edition: 1
Publisher: Lexington Books/Rowman & Littlefield Publishing
Year: 2019
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF / TOC
Pages: 197
Tags: United States: Foreign Relations: 20th Century; Diplomacy: Religious Aspects; Diplomatic Relations
Cover
Faith and Foreign Affairs in the American Century
Series Page
Faith and Foreign Affairs in the American Century
Copyright Page
Contents
List of Abbreviations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Argument and Outline
Notes
Chapter 1
Expanding Civilization
Missionary Diplomacy in American History
Toward Scientific Diplomacy
The Making of Organization Executives
Notes
Chapter 2
Nonpartisan
The Social Scientific Secularism of the CFR
The Millers in an Americanized North Atlantic Civilization
The Protestant Secular in Foreign Affairs
Addendum
Notes
Chapter 3
Town Hall Titans
The Fight for Real Democracy
Giving Democracy a Local Habitation: The Millers and the Policy Committees
Popular Diplomacy: The Foreign Relations Committees
Addendum
Notes
Chapter 4
The Aggressive Champion of a Particular Way of Life
From a Christian World Community to a Christian America
Christian Democracy and Its Discontents
The End of a Protestant-Secular Age
Addendum
Notes
Chapter 5
A Glass House
The Millers in Cold War Civil Rights
The Millers in Virginia Affairs
The Millers and Desegregation
Notes
Epilogue
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Journals
Books, Book Chapters, Articles, and Dissertations
Index
About the Author
