Graduate Student, History
Thesis Title: The Protestant Churches and the Challenges of Post-War Ontario, 1945-1956
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Mark McGowan
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About
My dissertation asks in what ways religious ideas and activities informed and transformed culture, society, and political discourse through the exploration of the Protestant Churches in Ontario from 1945-1955. I am interested in the way religion affected and was affected by a rapidly changing society as World War gave way to Cold War, and citizens searched for “normalcy.”
Broadly speaking, my project addresses how citizens shaped and were shaped by the post-war climate. A climate described by some historians as a period in which Canadian society was poised between tradition and modernity, between the old world and the new, and between a feeling of possibility and a feeling of trepidation about the future. My project addresses the challenges of reconstruction, the interaction between religious and political institutions especially when it came to education, the Churches' response to the threat of communism, the Korean conflict, and increased immigration, and the success of ecumenical initiatives - all with the hope of re-thinking how we think about secularization in the period.
