Drawing upon a diverse range of archival evidence, medical treatises, religious texts, public discourses, and legal documents, this book examines the rich historical context in which controversies surrounding the religious-based medical neglect of children first erupted onto the American scene. It argues that these cases reflect the intersection of several broader, and sometimes contradictory, historical developments. Over the course of the nineteenth century, a growing view of children as distinct biological beings with particularized needs for physical care gained credence in the US. This broad development is reflected in the emergence of pediatrics as a specialized field of medical practice and a vigorous child welfare movement, both of which brought unprecedented attention to children’s needs and blurred the boundaries between public and private responsibilities for their physical well-being. At the same time, however, a number of new healing religions emerged that challenged the growing authority of medical science in the realm of child welfare. The proliferation and rapid growth of these new churches reflected considerable uneasiness about the growing dominance of scientific materialism in American life.weiterlesen