Elizabeth C. Parsons 
The Greatest Work in the World 
Education as a Mission of Early Twentieth-Century Churches of Christ: Letters of Lloyd Cline Sears and Pattie Hathaway Armstrong

This volume of correspondence contains exchanges written between Lloyd Cline Sears (1895-1986) and Pattie Hathaway Armstrong (1899-1977), two influential leaders in early educational efforts of the Churches of Christ. Spanning the years 1915 to 1921, the letters document their writers’ romance, but they are more than simply love letters. They also express an educational philosophy and an understanding of Christian purpose as inspired by the Stone-Campbell Movement and held in tension with the intellectual and social ferment of the times. Posts from family members J. N. and Ida Woodson (Harding) Armstrong as well as from Pattie Cobb Harding, wife of James A. Harding, augment those of the principle authors. Their correspondence allows rare access to privately expressed thoughts of men and women attempting to live as Christian educators at the outset of an uncertain and rapidly changing twentieth century. The letters also offer lessons for contemporary American Christians in these even more volatile times.

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Elizabeth C. Parsons is Lecturer in Religion, Culture, and Development at Boston University School of Theology. A direct descendant of the letter writers, she is also author of What Price for Privatization? Cultural Encounter with Development Policy on the Zambian Copperbelt (2010).