"Onward Christian Soldiers": Philadelphia's Revival of 1905
UNTIL recently, even while calling attention to the religious dimension of Progressivism, scholars too often limited their curios ity about it to Social Gospel ministers. In the last two decades, however, it has become necessary to place Progressive-era religion in a new light. First, an increased volume of studies at the state and local levels have directed more attention to what motivated grassroots activists and voters. These studies are uncovering the extent to which religious and even revivalistic rhetoric mobilized reform sentiment among groups as diverse as southern women, big-city workers, town-dwelling Nebras kans and Kentuckians, and rural Oklahoma socialists.1 Second, several historians have reacted to the increasingly apparent diversity of the Progressives by searching out new grounds for synthesis. William McLoughlin, for example, asserted that Progressivism was fu eled by a "great awakening," by which he meant a general cultural and intellectual revitalization. David Danbom, John Burnham, Ferenc Szasz, and others have explored the Progressive "mood" or "ethos" and found it strongly related to religion, while Robert Crunden studied the evangelical backgrounds of secular Progressives such as Jane Addams and John Dewey.2