"The world is our parish" : John King Gordon, 1900-1989 : an intellectual biography

__“The World Is Our Parish”__ uses John King Gordon’s professional and intellectual journey to reveal the confluence of liberal Christianity, social democracy, and internationalism in Canadian politics and thought.

One of Canada’s most outspoken and respected advocates of internationalism during the early Cold War, John King Gordon had a remarkably eclectic professional life. Keith R. Fleming’s biography of Gordon explores the man’s many careers, from his start as a Manitoba clergyman in the 1920s to his work as a United Nations field officer in Korea, the Middle East, and the Congo.

In “The World Is Our Parish,” Fleming traces how Gordon’s passion for social reform and humanitarianism led him to become a clergyman, a political activist, a journalist, a professor, and one of Canada’s leading advocates of liberal internationalism in the years after World War Two. An exceptional biography of an extraordinary but little-known Canadian, “The World Is Our Parish” uses Gordon’s professional and intellectual journey to reveal the confluence of liberal Christianity, social democracy, and internationalism in Canadian politics and thought.

Contents 5 Illustrations 7 Introduction: “Universe of the spirit” 9 1. “Breaking out of a comfortable cocoon” (1900–1924) 21 2. “I play spectator in an Aristotelian sense” (1924–1931) 57 3. “A fiery apostle of social justice” (1931–1934) 88 4. “Politics is the only road to heaven now” (1935–1938) 136 5. “A bifocal view towards American affairs” (1938–1949) 183 6. “A ringside view of contemporary history in the making” (1950−1961) 230 7. “To get on in the world you accept the beliefs and values of the establishment” (1962–1989) 276 Conclusion: “An observer, not an actor” 318 Notes 327 Bibliography 365 Index 375