Christian History

Issue 66

How the West was Really Won

Originally published in 2000

Christian History magazine was published by Christianity Today from 1982 to 2008.

Articles in this Issue

How the West Was Really Won: Did You Know?

What a famous painting reveals about America’s move west.

Preparing a Way in the Wilderness

Though history has all but forgotten them, it was Christian preachers and teachers who really tamed the West.

A Church of Their Own

Ethnic congregations were essential for building community in the nation’s most diverse region.

No Rest for the Weary

Few pioneers possessed strong enough resolve to keep the Sabbath on the Overland Trail.

Tested On All Sides

Excerpts from a wagon train diary reveal that traveling overland was much more than a physical challenge.

Yesterday’s Christian Woman

Pioneer wives held their households together with a blend of grit and grace.

Forty-Niner Faith

Traditional Christianity didn’t stand much of a chance in the California gold fields.

Out Yonder, on the Edge of Things

The most controversial, and most effective, missionary to the West and Alaska, Sheldon Jackson was always pushing the boundaries.

Alternative Religions

Many non- and semi-Christian groups also laid claim to the West, but none more successfully than the Mormons.

The West That Wasn’t Won

Protestant missions to Native Americans had few shining moments.

Dying To Save

The Whitman Massacre reveals much of what was noble and flawed regarding missions to Native Americans.

How the West Was Really Won: A Gallery of Local Heroes

The wide-open West was served, state by state, by brave and sometimes beleaguered ministers and missionaries like these.

How the West Was Really Won: Christian History Interview – Land of Crumbling Myths

Why the twentieth-century West—urban and explosive—ain’t what it used to be.

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