The Reverend Mark Matthews: An Activist in the Progressive Era

by Dale E. Soden

Overview

When the Reverend Mark Allison Matthews died in February 1940, thousands of mourners gathered at a Seattle church to pay their final respects. The Southern-born Presbyterian came to Seattle in 1902. He quickly established himself as a city leader and began building a congregation that was eventually among the nation’s largest, with nearly 10,000 members. Throughout his career, he advocated Social Christianity, a blend of progressive reform and Christian values, as a blueprint for building a morally righteous community.

In telling Matthews’s story, Dale Soden presents Matthews’s multiple facets: a Southern-born, fundamentalist proponent of the Social Gospel; a national leader during the tumultuous years of schism within the American Presbyterian church; a social reformer who established day-care centers, kindergartens, night classes, and soup kitchens; a colorful figure who engaged in highly public and heated disputes with elected officials. Much of the controversy that surrounded Matthews centered on the proper relationship between church and state — an issue that is still hotly debated.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295980218
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	12/01/2000
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Dale Soden is professor of history at Whitworth College, Spokane.

What People are Saying About This

Charles P. LeWarne

For much of the first half of the 20th century, Mark Matthews was a vigorous and dominant figure in Seattle and the Northwest, playing a civic role well beyond that of pastor of the city’s largest church. Historian Dale Soden deftly portrays the man, his growing city, and a social influence that reached a national scope.

Ferenc Szasz

As Dale E. Soden Shows, the Reverend Mark A. Matthews’s concerted efforts to create a ‘righteous community’ out of wide—open Seattle led to over three decades of religious/political jousting. This balanced biography of one of the most colorful western clerics of the early twentieth century provides a welcome addition to both religious history and the history of the Pacific Northwest.

From the Publisher

"For much of the first half of the 20th century, Mark Matthews was a vigorous and dominant figure in Seattle and the Northwest, playing a civic role well beyond that of pastor of the city’s largest church. Historian Dale Soden deftly portrays the man, his growing city, and a social influence that reached a national scope."—Charles P. LeWarne, author of Utopias on Puget Sound, 1885—1915

"As Dale E. Soden Shows, the Reverend Mark A. Matthews’s concerted efforts to create a ‘righteous community’ out of wide—open Seattle led to over three decades of religious/political jousting. This balanced biography of one of the most colorful western clerics of the early twentieth century provides a welcome addition to both religious history and the history of the Pacific Northwest."—Ferenc Szasz, University of New Mexico

Editorial Reviews

In this readable biography of a highly influential Presbyterian pastor and reformist, Soden (history, political studies, Whitworth College) also recounts the controversies and causes prevalent in Seattle in the first half of the 20th century. When he moved to Seattle from Georgia in 1902, Matthew (d.1940) brought many of the beliefs of the Social Gospel movement. Soden links Matthew's work<-->organizing day nurseries for working mothers, unemployment bureaus, and resources for Japanese and Chinese immigrants<-->to larger social trends of his time such as fundamentalism, modernism, and conservatism, none of whom Matthew embodied fully. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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