Theories of Spiritual Evolution, Christian Science, and the “Cosmopolitan Jew”:Mina Loy and American Identity

Abstract

This article discusses Mina Loy's unpublished prose within the context of theories of spiritual evolution and the Cosmopolitan Jew popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Counter to the views of many of her contemporaries, Loy advocated a eugenic practice grounded in the benefits of mixed race breeding. The article contends that to understand fully Loy's perspective on race and ethnicity, both her writings on Judaism and her lifelong commitment to Christian Science should be taken into account. America's melting pot of ethnic and racial diversity—a condition she saw as one that made America evolutionarily superior to other nations—led the British-born Loy to valorize American identity.

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