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The Origin and Development of Prison Fellowship International: Pluralism, Ecumenism and American Leadership in the Evangelical World 1974–2006
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 October 2017
Abstract
Established in 1979 by Watergate felon Charles Colson, Prison Fellowship International (PFI) is now one of the largest para-church organizations in world evangelicalism. This article explains PFI's origins with reference to the existence of a transnational evangelical network, the compatibility of PFI's mission with the emergent theme of evangelical social concern, and a general crisis of penology across a number of Western countries. It explores the creative tension between Colson's empire-building instincts and the desire of PFI affiliates to influence the direction of the organization, revealing the transactional manner in which American evangelicals exercised global leadership in the late twentieth century.
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- Articles
- Information
- Journal of American Studies , Volume 51 , Special Issue 4: Exploring the Global History of American Evangelicalism , November 2017 , pp. 1221 - 1242
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press and British Association for American Studies 2017
References
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38 Sylvia Mary Alison, “The Origin and Purpose of Prison Christian Fellowship,” no date (c.1980), Sylvia Mary Alison Papers (in Alison family's possession). I am grateful to the Alison family for permission to cite these materials.
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73 Sylvia Mary Alison to Charles Colson, 22 Nov. 1996, “PF & PFI Archives” folder, Prison Fellowship England and Wales Archives (in possession of Prison Fellowship England and Wales), London; Charles Colson to Sylvia Mary Alison, 3 Dec. 1996, “PF & PFI Archives” folder, Prison Fellowship England and Wales Archives (in possession of Prison Fellowship England and Wales), London.
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80 Burnside, 7.
81 Ibid., 240–42.
82 Ibid., 250.
83 Alison, God Is Building a House, 80.
84 Oliver, “‘Hi, Fellas. Come on In,’” 753–56.
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87 See, for example, P. L. Ashford to Peter Timms, 14 Sept. 1982, Folder 228, Main: 1982, Robert Runcie Papers, Lambeth Palace Library, London.
88 For the addition of another Catholic to the PCF Board of Trustees see “Minutes of the Meeting of the Trustees,” 17 Nov. 1981, Board Minutes, Prison Fellowship England and Wales Archives (in possession of Prison Fellowship England and Wales), London; for evidence of the attitude of the new chaplain-general, Percy Ashford, see P. L. Ashford to Gordon Loux, 21 July 1982, “Gordon Loux European trip 7/82” folder, Box 63, Prison Fellowship Papers, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL; for the Alisons’ contacts with Lambeth Palace see Michael Alison to Robert Runcie, 23 July 1982, Folder 228, Main: 1982, Robert Runcie Papers, Lambeth Palace Library, London; Robert Runcie to Michael Alison, 27 July 1982, Sylvia Mary Alison Papers (in Alison family's possession) and Sylvia Mary Alison to Robert Runcie, 2 Dec. 1982, Folder 228, Main: 1982, Robert Runcie Papers, Lambeth Palace Library, London; for the PCS statement see P. L. Ashford, R. Atherton and W. Davies, no date given (c. Dec. 1982), Folder 228, Main: 1982, Robert Runcie Papers, Lambeth Palace Library, London.
89 Alison, God Is Building a House, 67.
90 PFI news release, “Symposium Considers Plight of World's Prisoners,” July 1983, “Belfast” folder, Box 147, Prison Fellowship Papers, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL.
91 Charles Colson, address to the Prison Fellowship International conference, Draveil, France, 23 March 1990, conference transcript, Sylvia Mary Alison Papers (in Alison family's possession).
92 “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium,” First Things, May 1994, 15–22. For an account of Colson's involvement see Aitken, Jonathan, Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed (London: Continuum, 2005), 378–88Google Scholar; Linker, Damon, The Theocons: Secular America under Siege (New York: Doubleday, 2006), 81–110 Google Scholar.
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99 Jonathan Petre, “Prison Service Axes Christian Course,” Daily Telegraph, 8 July 2006, at www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1523355/Prison-service-axes-Christian-course.html, accessed 30 June 2014.