Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America
Founded as a local college ministry in 1951, Campus Crusade for Christ has become one of the world's largest evangelical organizations, today boasting an annual budget of more than $500 million. Nondenominational organizations like Campus Crusade account for much of modern evangelicalism's dynamism and adaptation to mainstream American culture. Despite the importance of these "parachurch" organizations, says John Turner, historians have largely ignored them.

Turner offers an accessible and colorful history of Campus Crusade and its founder, Bill Bright, whose marketing and fund-raising acumen transformed the organization into an international evangelical empire. Drawing on archival materials and more than one hundred interviews, Turner challenges the dominant narrative of the secularization of higher education, demonstrating how Campus Crusade helped reestablish evangelical Christianity as a visible subculture on American campuses. Beyond the campus, Bright expanded evangelicalism's influence in the worlds of business and politics. As Turner demonstrates, the story of Campus Crusade reflects the halting movement of evangelicalism into mainstream American society: its awkward marriage with conservative politics, its hesitancy over gender roles and sexuality, and its growing affluence.
1117396579
Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America
Founded as a local college ministry in 1951, Campus Crusade for Christ has become one of the world's largest evangelical organizations, today boasting an annual budget of more than $500 million. Nondenominational organizations like Campus Crusade account for much of modern evangelicalism's dynamism and adaptation to mainstream American culture. Despite the importance of these "parachurch" organizations, says John Turner, historians have largely ignored them.

Turner offers an accessible and colorful history of Campus Crusade and its founder, Bill Bright, whose marketing and fund-raising acumen transformed the organization into an international evangelical empire. Drawing on archival materials and more than one hundred interviews, Turner challenges the dominant narrative of the secularization of higher education, demonstrating how Campus Crusade helped reestablish evangelical Christianity as a visible subculture on American campuses. Beyond the campus, Bright expanded evangelicalism's influence in the worlds of business and politics. As Turner demonstrates, the story of Campus Crusade reflects the halting movement of evangelicalism into mainstream American society: its awkward marriage with conservative politics, its hesitancy over gender roles and sexuality, and its growing affluence.
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Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America

Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America

by John G. Turner
Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America

Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America

by John G. Turner

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Overview

Founded as a local college ministry in 1951, Campus Crusade for Christ has become one of the world's largest evangelical organizations, today boasting an annual budget of more than $500 million. Nondenominational organizations like Campus Crusade account for much of modern evangelicalism's dynamism and adaptation to mainstream American culture. Despite the importance of these "parachurch" organizations, says John Turner, historians have largely ignored them.

Turner offers an accessible and colorful history of Campus Crusade and its founder, Bill Bright, whose marketing and fund-raising acumen transformed the organization into an international evangelical empire. Drawing on archival materials and more than one hundred interviews, Turner challenges the dominant narrative of the secularization of higher education, demonstrating how Campus Crusade helped reestablish evangelical Christianity as a visible subculture on American campuses. Beyond the campus, Bright expanded evangelicalism's influence in the worlds of business and politics. As Turner demonstrates, the story of Campus Crusade reflects the halting movement of evangelicalism into mainstream American society: its awkward marriage with conservative politics, its hesitancy over gender roles and sexuality, and its growing affluence.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780807889107
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date: 11/30/2009
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 304
File size: 4 MB

About the Author

John G. Turner is assistant professor of history at the University of South Alabama.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction     1
God May Choose a Country Boy     13
Campus Ministry at America's "Trojan Horse"     41
Sibling Rivalries     69
The Conservative Impulses of the Early 1960s     93
The Jesus Revolution from Berkeley to Dallas     119
The Evangelical Bicentennial     147
America and the World for Jesus     173
Kingdoms at War     199
Conclusion     227
Notes     237
Bibliography     263
Index     279

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

A thought-provoking glimpse into the trajectory of modern evangelicalism.—Publishers Weekly

Turner's deeply researched narrative belongs on the shelf of anyone thinking and writing about evangelicalism in the public square. . . . Indispensable.—Christianity Today

An honest account of one of the fastest growing and most influential religious movements of the last half century.—Christian Century

Jason C. Bivins

"[A]n important contribution to the study of American evangelicalism, filling a large gap in the current literature."--(Jason C. Bivins, North Carolina State University)

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