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