Rocky Mountain Radical: Myron W. Reed, Christian Socialist

436 Pages·1997·1.42 MB·English

by  James A. Denton

Rocky Mountain Radical : Myron W. Reed,
title:
Christian Socialist
author: Denton, James A.
publisher: University of New Mexico
isbn10 | asin: 0826318142
print isbn13: 9780826318145
ebook isbn13: 9780585210032
language: English
Reed, Myron W.,--1836-1899, Socialists--
United States--Biography, Socialism,
subject
Christian--United States--History--19th
century.
publication date: 1997
lcc: HX84.R43D45 1997eb
ddc: 335/.0092
Reed, Myron W.,--1836-1899, Socialists--
United States--Biography, Socialism,
subject:
Christian--United States--History--19th
century.
Page i
Rocky Mountain Radical
Page ii
Myron W. Reed
(Photograph courtesy Western History Department, Denver Public Library.)
Page iii
Rocky Mountain Radical
Myron W. Reed, Christian Socialist
James A. Denton
University of New Mexico Press Albuquerque
Page iv
For my parents,
Amos and Essie Denton
© 1997 by the University of New Mexico Press
All rights reserved.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Denton, James A. (James Andrew), 1936
Rocky Mountain radical: Myron W. Reed, Christian Socialist /
James A. Denton.1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8263-1814-2
1. Reed, Myron W., 18361899. 2. SocialistsUnited States
Biography. 3. Socialism, ChristianUnited StatesHistory
19th century. I. Title.
HX84.R43D45 1997
335'.0092dc21 97-4846
CIP
Page v
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Part One: Creating a New Community
Chapter One 3
A City of Entrepreneurs
Chapter Two 22
Cooperation: Foundation for a New Community
Part Two: The Comfortable Life
Chapter Three 55
Politics: Power without Justice
Chapter Four 77
Modern Charity: Creating Opportunity
Chapter Five 96
Labor: A Frontier with Opportunity and Conflict
Chapter Six 122
Christian Socialism: A More Comfortable Way
Part Three: Legacy of a Crank
Chapter Seven 143
Epilogue: A Friend of the Masses
Notes 155
Selected Bibliography 189
Index 199

Page vii
PREFACE
Reverend Myron Winslow Reed, the foremost Christian Socialist in
the American West from 1884 to 1899, is seldom found in the major
works on Christian Socialism. Historians have usually identified late
nineteenth-century Christian Socialism with W. D. P. Bliss, Walter
Rauschenbusch, and George Herron, men from the Midwest or East.
Yet, from his Denver pulpits, Reed preached a radical message of
Christian Socialismat least his contemporaries called it radical. He
encouraged the government to manage the sources of production,
advocated the "comfortable life" for all citizens, and touted America
as the messianic nation to the worldthe example of a cooperative
republic in process. Reed declared, "There ought to be a new earth,
and what ought to be will be."
Nurtured by nineteenth-century idealism, Reed believed in humanity's
inevitable progress, especially that of American civilization, but he
credited this progress to the God revealed in Jesus Christ. Jesus taught
the principle of servanthood, the basic principle of cooperation, and
represented the most profound revelation of God's plan though not its
final one. By observing history one could see the improvement of
civilization and God at work. Reed believed that the church must
teach by example and guide humanity into the promised kingdom of
God on earth, which was best represented by a cooperative republic.
Teaching by example meant doing the things that would create justice,
relieve suffering, elevate human culture to its fullest potential, and
establish small communities that could serve as catalysts to prod the
rest of society toward the kingdom of God. Reed and others wrestled
with how to accomplish this task in an expanding society that seemed
determined to replicate the social organizations of yesteryear. Reed