Dissertation Information for Christine Allison Stolba NAME: - Christine Allison Stolba
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1999)
ADVISORS: - Patrick N. Allitt
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Mary E. Odem - Jonathan Prude
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: \"A corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit\": Religion and the American eugenics movement
Abstract: This dissertation is a history of the American eugenics movements forgotten participants: Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish leaders who embraced eugenics and promoted it in their churches and synagogues. Religious leaders arrived at eugenics through their experiences with social reform, particularly during the Progressive Era. They were predominantly the liberals in their respective faiths, and their championing of eugenics was consistent with their belief in humanity\'s ability to improve its circumstances. I trace the theological justifications religious leaders offered for their participation in the eugenics movement and describe their changing perceptions of eugenic science and eugenic social policy from 1883 to 1941.
This dissertation also explores the reception religious participants received from scientists who supported eugenics. Although initially wary of religious participation in their scientific movement, eugenicists eventually sought the support of prominent religious leaders. The American Eugenics Society, for example, sponsored eugenics sermon contests and formed a Committee on Cooperation with Clergymen in the 1920s. Eugenicists\' success in garnering religious support brought a new and vocal group of contributors into the movement. Religious leaders forced eugenicists to consider the ethical implications of their work and to alter their agendas in important ways.
Historians have virtually ignored this element of the eugenics movements history, focusing instead on formal eugenics institutions and a handful of leading eugenicists. Existing historiography also emphasizes the movements coercive facets rather than the equally-important voluntary efforts of enthusiasts working outside formal eugenics organizations. This dissertation contributes to a broader understanding of eugenics by exploring the non-institutional, religious paths eugenics took into American culture.
Drawing on a wide range of sources--published materials by eugenicists and religious leaders, religious and scientific periodicals, archives of the American Eugenics Society, and the personal papers of religious leaders and eugenicists such as Rev. John Haynes Holmes, Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, Rev. John M. Cooper, Rev. John A. Ryan, Rev. George Reid Andrews, and biologist Charles Davenport--this dissertation sheds light on the history of the American eugenics movement specifically, and on the relationship between religion and science generally. Historians have highlighted the conflicts that erupted between religion and science, but we have neglected the story of cooperation.
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calculated 2008-03-20 15:17:18
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