John Raleigh Mott | |
|---|---|
 Mott circa 1946 | |
| Born | (1865-05-25)May 25, 1865 |
| Died | January 31, 1955(1955-01-31) (aged 89) Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Upper Iowa University[1] Cornell University (B.A.) |
| Occupation | Activist |
| Organization(s) | YMCA,World Student Christian Federation |
| Spouse | Leila Ada White (m. 1891) |
| Parent(s) | John Mott Sr. Elmira (Dodge) Mott |
| Awards | Nobel Peace Prize (1946) |
John Raleigh Mott (May 25, 1865 – January 31, 1955) was an American evangelist and long-serving leader of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and theWorld Student Christian Federation (WSCF). He received theNobel Peace Prize in 1946 for his work in establishing and strengthening international ProtestantChristian student organizations that worked topromote peace. He shared the prize withEmily Greene Balch. From 1895 until 1920 Mott was the General Secretary of the WSCF. Intimately involved in the formation of theWorld Council of Churches in 1948, that body elected him as a lifelong honorary President. He helped found theWorld Student Christian Federation in 1895, the1910 World Missionary Conference and theWorld Council of Churches in 1948. His best-known book,The Evangelization of the World in this Generation, became a missionary slogan in the early 20th century.[2]
Mott was born inLivingston Manor,Sullivan County, New York, on May 25, 1865, and his family moved toPostville, Iowa, in September of the same year. He attendedUpper Iowa University, where he studied history and was an award-winning student debater. He transferred toCornell University, where he received hisbachelor's degree in 1888. He was influenced byArthur Tappan Pierson one of the forces behind theStudent Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, which was founded in 1886.
In 1910, Mott, anAmerican Methodist layperson, presided at the1910 World Missionary Conference, which was an important milestone in the modernProtestantmissions movement and some say the modernecumenical movement.
Mott and a colleague were offered free passage on theTitanic in 1912 by aWhite Star Line official who was interested in their work, but they declined and took the more humble liner theSS Lapland. According to a biography by C. Howard Hopkins, inNew York City the two men heard what happened to theTitanic, looked at each other and remarked that, "The Good Lord must have more work for us to do."[3]
After touring Europe and promoting ecumenism, Mott traveled to Asia where, from October 1912 to May 1913, he held a series of 18 regional and national conferences, including in Ceylon, India, Burma, Malaya, China, Korea and Japan.[4]
He also worked withRobert Hallowell Gardiner III to maintain relations with the Russian Orthodox Church and Archbishop Tikhon after the Russian Revolution.
From 1920 until 1928, Mott served as the WSCF Chairperson. For his labors in both missions and ecumenism, as well as for peace, some historians consider him to be "the most widely traveled and universally trusted Christian leader of his time".[5]
Mott married twice. His first wife was a teacher, Leila Ada White. They married in 1891 and had two sons and two daughters, includingIrene Mott Bose, a social worker in India, and wife of Indian Supreme Court justiceVivian Bose;John Livingstone Mott, who received theKaisar-i‐Hind silver medal in 1931, for his work with theYMCA in India;[6] andFrederick Dodge Mott, who worked in healthcare planning in Canada, and was Canada's representative to theWorld Health Organization.[7]
After Leila Mott died in 1952, Mott remarried in 1953, to Agnes Peter (1880-1957), a descendant ofMartha Custis Washington.[8] He died in 1955, inOrlando, Florida, aged 89 years. His papers are held at the Yale Divinity School Library.[9]
In 2022, John Raleigh Mott was officially added to theEpiscopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day on October 3.[10]
The high school of thePostville Community School District inPostville, Iowa, is named after him.[11]
