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

Offers a (re)consideration of the impact of radical conceptions of Christ on modern U.S. literature, its critique of inegalitarian social relations, and its visions for a just society.

The Red Christ argues that some of the most popular social protest literature published in the U.S. between 1890 and 1940 was inseparable from "Social Christianity," a historically important movement deeply concerned with issues of social justice. As this study shows, various images and iterations of the "red" Christ, including Christ as the exploited worker, the lynched, and the persecuted radical, were used to critique unjust power structures. Christ’s self-sacrifice and compassion inspired hope for an earthly “kingdom” that recognized and respected the infinite worth of all human beings. Like the writers it studies, The Red Christ recovers the “dangerous memory” of Christ that mainstream Christianity largely continues to ignore.

Anthony Dawahare reads a broad range of writers – including Albion Tourgée, Charles Monroe 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.