The Reverend Mark Matthews : an activist in the progressive era /
Dale E. Soden.
- Seattle : University of Washington Press, (c)2001.
- 1 online resource (xvi, 274 pages) : illustrations
Includes bibliographies and index.
The Hills of Georgia -- The Social Gospel in Tennessee -- Building Seattle's First Church -- The Church Is My Force, the City My Field -- Progressive Impulses -- The Great Feud -- "Shall Matthews Run the City?" -- The Great War and the General Strike -- Fundamentalism and Modernism -- Screenitis and the Radio -- The Final Years.
"When the Reverend Mark Allison Matthews died in February 1940, thousands of mourners gathered at a Seattle church to pay their final respects. The Southern-born Presbyterian came to Seattle in 1902. He quickly established himself as a city leader and began building a congregation that was eventually among the nation's largest, with nearly 10,000 members. Throughout his career, he advocated Social Christianity, a blend of progressive reform and Christian values, as a blueprint for building a morally righteous community." "In telling Matthews's story, Dale Soden presents Matthews's multiple facets: a Southern-born, fundamentalist proponent of the Social Gospel; a national leader during the tumultuous years of schism within the American Presbyterian church; a social reformer who established day-care centers, kindergartens, night classes, and soup kitchens; a colorful figure who engaged in highly public and heated disputes with elected officials. Much of the controversy that surrounded Matthews centered on the proper relationship between church and state - an issue that is still hotly debated."--Jacket.