Missionary-Citizenship: Neighbor, Nation, and Globe in American Protestant Childhood from the Great War to the Cold War

This dissertation examines a widespread project in mid-twentieth-century American Protestantism known as missionary education, which included networks of mission-themed clubs, activities, and magazines for children. Overseas missionary work comprised the content of these programs, yet I argue that they reveal more about the function of the mission field in forming an American Protestant identity in the children in the pews. Missionary education programs sought to instill a holistic, “missionary-citizen” identity in which engagement with foreign missionary work was foundational to proper development of global, national, and community citizenship.
Missionary education programs across the Protestant spectrum embraced a shared vision of the Christian nation and its mission to the world, which represents a persistent grassroots consensus in a period marked by theological rancor. Immediately following the Great War, children learned to view themselves as both world friends and world leaders, in an attempt to retain and reform the missionary project for an anti-imperial age. Amid a missionary funding crisis and the Great Depression, Protestant children were taught to give generously as both debtors to the world and investors in the missionary enterprise. A spiritualized view of the World War II conflict helped convert missionary-citizens from peacemaking ambassadors to Christian soldiers. And in the Cold War years, Protestants shaped their children into global crusaders for Christianity and democracy. By the 1950s, the missionary-citizenship consensus had eroded through denominational consolidation and political polarization, and America’s mission to the world divided rather than united Protestant children.
A study of children’s missionary education sheds light on the ways midcentury Protestants resolved the tension between nationalism and internationalism in the American child’s obligations to the world, and the potential and limitations of a missionary-citizen framing of racial diversity at home. It also speaks to the relative impact of doctrinal distinctives, lived religion, and denominational politics on religious identity formation; the role of not only gender discrimination, but also generational shifts and fundraising capacity in the trajectory of autonomous women’s missionary groups; and the ways conflicting theological foundations can converge in a shared mission.

本论文聚焦20世纪中期美国新教社群中一项广为流传的宣教教育（missionary education）项目，该项目为儿童搭建了涵盖宣教主题俱乐部、各类活动与期刊的传播网络。尽管此类项目的核心内容为海外宣教工作，但本文主张，其更揭示了宣教场域在教会会众儿童群体中塑造美国新教身份认同的深层作用。宣教教育项目旨在向儿童灌输一种完整的“宣教公民”（missionary-citizen）身份认同，即参与海外宣教工作，是个体成长为合格的全球公民、国民与社区公民的核心基础。

横跨新教各宗派的宣教教育项目，均秉持着“基督教国家及其全球宣教使命”的共同愿景——这在一个神学纷争频发的时代，代表了一种持久的基层共识。一战结束后不久，儿童便被教导将自身视作世界之友与世界领袖，以期在反帝国主义时代保留并革新宣教事业。在宣教资金危机与大萧条的双重背景下，新教儿童被教导要慷慨奉献，将自身视作亏欠世界的债务人，同时也是宣教事业的投资者。对二战冲突的精神化解读，推动“宣教公民”从和平缔造使者转变为基督教战士。冷战时期，新教群体则将儿童塑造为宣扬基督教与民主理念的全球十字军战士。至20世纪50年代，随着宗派整合与政治极化加剧，“宣教公民”身份认同的共识逐渐瓦解，美国的全球宣教使命不再能凝聚新教儿童，反而加剧了他们之间的分歧。

对儿童宣教教育的研究，揭示了20世纪中期新教群体如何调和美国儿童所肩负的民族主义与国际主义义务之间的张力，以及“宣教公民”框架在阐释国内种族多样性时的潜力与局限。本研究同时阐明了诸多议题：教义特色、现实宗教实践与宗派政治对宗教身份塑造的相对影响；性别歧视、代际变迁与筹款能力等因素，在自主女性宣教团体的发展轨迹中所发挥的作用；以及存在分歧的神学基础如何能在共同的宣教使命中达成融合。