The Red Christ : The Dangerous Memory of Christianity in Modern U.S. Literatures of Social Protest

Sheldon, Upton Sinclair, W. E. B. Du Bois, Richard Wright, and Dorothy Day to demonstrate that this radical tradition of Christianity is woven into the fabric of U.S. literature. While Social Christianity waned with the onset of World War I, post-war writers continued to appropriate its message, vision, and tropes to critique racism, sexism, war, fascism, and class inequality. Writings from the Harlem Renaissance, the Proletarian Literary Movement, and the Catholic Worker Movement bear witness to the continuing influence of the Red Christ on modern American writers. This study thus deepens our understanding of modern U.S. protest literature by revealing its submerged religious roots in a politically subversive Christianity. [Publisher's text]

572009 characters.