From East to West

Today, we finish up our seminar on Chicago's religious history by focusing on a history that is still being written. As we discussed last week, the Immigration Act of 1965 radically changed not only the number of people who immigrated into the United States, but also where people were immigrating from. Where northern and southern Europeans had been the most prominent immigrant groups throughout for over a century, immigrants from Asia and Latin America swiftly became most prominent in the years after the Immigration Act.

Today, we'll conclude with one particular tale of this ongoing demographic revolution. Eboo Patel's memoir Acts of Faith is in part a Chicago story, but it's also a story of many of the themes and issues we've confronted here. Today--and REMEMBER we're meeting in room B91--we'll use Patel's memoir as a way to see what has changed and what has stayed the same in Chicago's 100 years of religious history. What has the city constant done to religion? What has religion constantly done to the city?

A Theology of the Streets

Soul and Food in Chicago, c. 1940s

Elder Lucy Smith, c. 1940s

Today will be discussing the remarkable transformation the city of Chicago--as well as much of the urban north--experience throughout the twentieth century. Where Chicago's African Americans comprised only 1% of the population in 1900, bu 1970 that number would reach 33%. The vast majority of these black migrants were rural southerners running away the oppressive conditions of the segregating south and running towards the economic opportunities in the factories of the urban north. But this demographic and economic transformation also had distinctly religious manifestations as well. We'll be talking about the alternative religiosities and theological innovations of black southerners in the great white north. We'll consider the architectural peculiarities of store front churches, the Pentecostal denominations of Elder Lucy Smith, as well as the rise of Gospel Music in Chicago. As an example, here's Elder Smith's daughter, who became a popular gospel singer in Chicago and abroad.

Bibles and Ballots

Last week we looked at a strain within American Protestantism who thought the traumas of urban-industrial life in places like Chicago necessitated religion adapt and be made new to remain relevant. This week, we're looking at another strain in American Protestantism who thought those same changes demanded religion hold on even stronger to its traditional beliefs. We'll be talking about a couple of different facets of American evangelicalism and fundamentalism, but none is more more visually entertaining than the animated preaching of Billy Sunday. Here are some of the few videos taken of the preacher before his death.

Christ the Carpenter

As we discussed last week in our comparison of Catholic parishes and Jewish synagogues, the ccentral working theme for the class has emerged. The enormity, the complexity, the diversity and the insanity of the city of Chicago forced religious communities to make certain adaptions to survive urban life. And as we saw, these adaptions were not always welcomed. For our discussion of Protestants in the city, we'll be spending two weeks discussing the kinds of adaptions and reactions churches went through in engaging the city--adaptions and reactions that in many ways continue to influence today's culture wars.

We begin with the emergence of a "Social Gospel" among liberal Protestant theologians at the turn of the twentieth century. The University of Chicago was one of the most important intellectual centers for the social gospel movement, and we'll be reading a central text by University of Chicago theologian Shailer Mathews. Read pages 24-35.

And then we'll discuss one of these Social Gospel ideas in practice with the Chicago Commons. The organization is actually still in existence, but the original building run by Graham Taylor at Grand and Morgan stands in disrepair.

God in America on PBS

As per our discussion of the "God in America" series forthcoming on PBS, here is the information for those of you that are interested.

The series' Website, with information on show times and episode summaries, is here.

And here is the extended trailer for the event.

From Shtetl to the City

Chicago's rich and lengthy Jewish history is perhaps the most overlooked aspect of the city's religious history. But in 1900 Chicago's Jewish population was the third largest in the United States at over 60,000 and nearly equaled the Jewish population of Berlin. This session on Jewish Chicago will continue our focus on the local realities of Chicago's religious history, but will also consider the traumas of international immigration as well as the internal diversity of a specific religious group. The only reading for this week available online is Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch's address "The Concordance of Judaism and Americanism."



A central focus of this meeting will be the Jewish community and market that emerged--partly by choice, partly by force--around Maxwell Street. While the city's Jewish history might be understudied, the Chicago Jewish Historical Society remains a premier repository for Chicago Judaica. And while Maxwell Street is now more known as the birthplace of the blues as opposed to Chicago's earliest Jewish community, the Street's Jewish heritage lives on with the aptly named musical group: the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band! Take a Listen:

Immigrant City, Catholic City

The history of American Catholicism is, at its core, an urban history. Gothic steeples overshadowing dense neighborhoods are a hallmark of the landscape of America's cities. But as we'll discuss in our reading of Studs Lonigan and the parish history of Holy Family Parish, there is more to the urban nature of American Catholicism than its architecture. For these churches embodied and represented a profound sense of community and place that not only shaped America's Catholics but America itself. To compliment our readings, below are three videos from the Chicago History Museum's "Catholic Chicago" exhibit from a few years ago. What themes are repeated here? Do we hear a little Studs Lonigan here?

Catholic Chicago - Parish Life from Chicago History Museum on Vimeo.

Catholic Chicago - Growing Up Catholic from Chicago History Museum on Vimeo.

And we'll conclude today by discussing the changes in both Chicago and American Catholicism is the years surrounding World War I. These changes would mark American Catholicism throughout the remainder of the twentieth century and would especially shape the experience of new Catholic Hispanic immigrants in the late twentieth century. Here is a brief view of the 1926 Eucharistic Congress I'll be discussing.

The Eucharistic Congress - Chicago 1926 from Chicago History Museum on Vimeo.

Manya Brachear and Religious Chicago

In an age where newspaper companies are slashing budgets and cutting purportedly frivolous staff like religion reporters, Chicago is still somewhat luck in that the Chicago Tribune still employs a reporter devoted to the city's religious beat. Over at GetReligion.org, a blog devoted to interrogating the press' handling of religious issues, Sarah Pulliam Bailey interviews the Tribune's reporter on religion Manya Brachear. Here's a taste:

Photo from chicagotribune.com

Why is it important for journalists to understand the role of religion in our world today?
Religion motivates people whether they know it or not. Doctors, politicians, philanthropists and business leaders often rely on their faith to guide their actions, sometimes more often than they admit or realize. Furthermore, religion also answers the question “why?” for many people. “Why?” is one of our five Ws. If we journalists fail to understand what drives everyone around us, we fail to answer the “why?” and thus fail to do our jobs.

Bracher runs her own religious news blog where she features her work on the city called The Seeker. I'm a longtime reader of Bracher's and you can find her top-notch reporting there.

The 1893 World's Parliment of Religion

Held throughout the summer of 1893, the World's Columbian Exposition solidified Chicago's prominence as one of America's great cities. Organized to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Columbus' arrival upon North America, the Exposition included one of the first attempts to encourage an interfaith dialogue in the World's Parliament of Religions.

Read the opening address of the Parliament. What were the intents of its organizers? How do they comprehend and engage the religious diversity? Read pages 62-82.



Of course, the Parliament did not, and could never, speak for all of the city's religious traditions. Chicago's preeminent revival preacher Dwight L. Moody--the Billy Graham of his day--and a number of conservative evangelical Protestants protested the entire Exposition for its refusal to close on Sundays. You can read accounts of Moody's revival/protest below. What does Moody's efforts say about his view of the city's religious diversity. How does it differ from the World's Parliament? In particular, read pages 15-18, 126-133, 184-202.



And just for kicks, you can listen to a rare recording of Moody's voice, taken late in the 1890s, to get a sense of his personality and the character of late nineteenth century revivalism.

Welcome to the Blog!

Welcome to "Religious Chicago," a blog originally designed for a public seminar of the same name held at the Newberry Library. Here you'll find postings of the seminar's readings, pictures or videos relevant to the seminar's topics, as well as errant items and musings on the religious life in the city of Chicago. I would welcome any feedback you may have as well as any items or submissions you'd like to share. Get in touch at religious.chicago@gmail.com.