Dissertation
America's Theopolis: Boosters, Businesses, and Christian Nonprofits in Colorado Springs, 1871-2000
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2019
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/111954
Abstract
In the first years of the twenty-first century, Colorado Springs gained notoriety as one of the nation’s most socially-conservative cities, America’s Theopolis. But behind that identity lays a complicated and far more diverse history. Since the city’s founding in 1871, Christian leaders, business owners, and politicians allied with civic boosters in a shared vision for the city. Together, they collaborated to market, control, and sanctify their city. Unified by their desire to protect the town’s image, these leaders—religious and otherwise—administered charities, pledged their region to the Republican Party, and diversified the economy. By the 1990s, their work had produced a conservatism that blended neo-liberal economics, neo-conservative politics, and evangelical faith.
I argue that, over the long twentieth century, Christian leaders adapted and adopted aspects of boosterism, business, and politics to produce America’s Theopolis. Their work offers important insights for the histories of the American West, conservatism, and religion. Over time, the effort of the city’s long-standing Republican establishment, business owners, and Christian leaders was mutually reinforcing. Together they grew in power by combining religion, promotion, entrepreneurism, and conservative political values. What began as the privileging of denominational churches and ecumenical organizations ended with the rise of new, politically active, corporate forms of Christianity represented by evangelical organizations like Focus on the Family that launched the culture wars. By transforming Colorado Springs into America’s Theopolis, these groups created a capital from which to transform politics and culture around the nation.
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Details
- Title
- America's Theopolis: Boosters, Businesses, and Christian Nonprofits in Colorado Springs, 1871-2000
- Creators
- Gregory James Atkins
- Contributors
- Matthew A Sutton (Advisor)Jeffrey Sanders (Committee Member)Peter Boag (Committee Member)Paul Harvey (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- History, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 268
- Identifiers
- 99900581817301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation