God's Internationalists

"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

"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

"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