God's Internationalists - (Haney Foundation) by David P King (Hardcover)

About the Book

God's Internationalists is the first comprehensive study of World Vision, the largest Christian humanitarian organization in the world. David P. King explores how the organization rearticulated its Christian identity and expanded beyond traditional evangelism to become a leader in global relief and development.

Book Synopsis

Over the past seventy years, World Vision has grown from a small missionary agency to the largest Christian humanitarian organization in the world, with 40,000 employees, offices in nearly one hundred countries, and an annual budget of over $2 billion. While founder Bob Pierce was an evangelist with street smarts, the most recent World Vision U.S. presidents move with ease between megachurches, the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies, and the corridors of Capitol Hill. Though the organization has remained decidedly Christian, it has earned the reputation as an elite international nongovernmental organization managed efficiently by professional experts fluent in the language of both marketing and development.

God's Internationalists is the first comprehensive study of World Vision--or any such religious humanitarian agency. In chronicling the organization's transformation from 1950 to the present, David P. King approaches World Vision as a lens through which to explore shifts within post-World War II American evangelicalism as well as the complexities of faith-based humanitarianism. Chronicling the evolution of World Vision's practices, theology, rhetoric, and organizational structure, King demonstrates how the organization rearticulated and retained its Christian identity even as it expanded beyond a narrow American evangelical subculture. King's pairing of American evangelicals' interactions abroad with their own evolving identity at home reframes the traditional narrative of modern American evangelicalism while also providing the historical context for the current explosion of evangelical interest in global social engagement. By examining these patterns of change, God's Internationalists offers a distinctive angle on the history of religious humanitarianism.

Review Quotes

"God's Internationalists is a fascinating new narrative about American evangelicals and politics in the 20th century . . . [T]his is an important book that complicates our understanding of how evangelicals came to see social issues as a key part of their Christian witness."-- "Christianity Today"

"[A] nuanced exploration of evangelical humanitarianism through the work of World Vision . . . Through vivid storytelling and layered contextual analysis, King presents a rich organizational history of World Vision that is nothing short of a page turner . . . God's Internationalists is essential reading for anyone interested in how large religious non-profit organizations that operate within a broader field negotiate religious identity."-- "Review of Religious Research"

"David P. King constructively upends long-standing narratives of modern evangelicalism's development in the twentieth century that tend to emphasize its politicization on American soil. Offering a refreshingly nuanced reading of World Vision, he uses the organization's history to illustrate how modern evangelicalism's work abroad unfolded independently of domestic political developments dictated by the Religious Right. Along the way, he raises intriguing and important claims about the nature of church-state relations, secularization, and religion and public life in contemporary America."-- "Darren Dochuk, University of Notre Dame"

"If history is fundamentally about story, King succeeds here. Against all odds, he manages to make the history of this bureaucratic behemoth a rollicking tale of one man's strength and weakness-and an organization's fascinating response to the chastening of decolonization, Vietnam, and famine in Ethiopia . . . [T]his book succeeds because the story of World Vision matters . . . {It] may be one of the most necessary interventions in American evangelical historiography in many years."-- "Patheos/The Anxious Bench"

"While institutional histories can take on a narrow quality, God's Internationalists situates World Vision amid a wider cultural and religious context. King's work convincingly depicts a brand of evangelical internationalism...King's history provides a fruitful contribution to better understanding the internationalist dimension of twentieth century evangelicals within the United States."-- "Church History"

About the Author

David P. King is the Karen Lake Buttrey Director of the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving and teaches in the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.