William Rainey Harper’s Founding Vision for the REA and the Rhetoric of American Imperialism

Abstract

This article engages the question: In what ways and to what extent was William Rainey Harper’s founding vision for the R.E.A. shaped by the rhetoric of American imperialism and its legitimation of violence against other nations? Using a historical methodology, this research explores how Harper’s originating vision for the R.E.A. grew out of his conviction that the United States, critically informed and democratically inspired by the Bible, could be the world’s prophet of democracy. It analyzes how Harper’s vision for the R.E.A. supported the ideological framework of American imperialism while offering a broader vision in working toward peace.

Keywords:

• William Rainey Harper
• religious education association

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The record of American expansion and accompanying acts of violence against Native Americans and other nations throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is well-documented. It is a record that includes such atrocities as the Trail of Tears and the massacre at Wounded Knee, acts of imperial aggression such as the American invasion of the Philippines and U.S. military support of a revolt for Panamanian independence from Columbia to secure the building the Panama Canal. (See Zinn 2003; Nugent 2000).

2 Richmond Hobson and George Dewey were U.S. naval officers who were hailed as popular heroes of the Spanish American War (See Musicant 1998).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dennis Gunn

Dennis Gunn is Assistant Professor of Education at Iona College in New Rochelle, NY. He is also Historian for the R.E.A.