Spring break for Jesus : the rise of Protestant short-term missions, 1950-1980
Abstract
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] While short-term missions attracted a small number of participants in the early years of the movement, since the mid-twentieth century the practice has grown at an increasing rate. While only a few hundred participated in the 1950s, by 2010 more than a million Americans joined each year. Despite that growth, historians have ignored this change in the practice and idea of missions. Short-term missionaries democratized american missions, shifted control away from denominational hierarchy, shaped the lived religion of modern evangelicalism, and globalized American religious practice. Short-term missions also reflect the unique cultural milieu that created them as they were shaped by new youth culture, anticommunism, and technological developments.
Degree
Ph. D.
Thesis Department
Rights
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