The Global Conscience of American Evangelicalism: Internationalism and Social Concern in the 1970s and Beyond Event

Evangelical Christians have been important agents of American 'informal empire' since the Second World War. That role, however, has been attended by significant tensions, evident particularly from the 1970s, as American evangelicals had to address new challenges to their dominance within the global evangelical movement and new questions concerning the proper balance between mission (the saving of souls) and humanitarianism (the saving of lives).

Melani McAlister is Associate Professor of American Studies, International Studies and Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, where she is also Chair of the Department of American Studies. She is the author of Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East since 1945 and is currently completing completing a study of U.S. Christian evangelicals, popular culture and international affairs, tentatively titled Our God in the World: The Global Visions of American Evangelicals.

This is the keynote address for the CIPCS conference: 'Towards the Ends of the Earth: Exploring the Global History of American Evangelicalism, 1840-2010,' 23-25 April 2014.