Social+Gospel

**Social Gospel**

 * Religious movement which arose in late 19th century
 * Famous ministers included Washington Gladden and Walter Rauschenbusch
 * Attempted to apply biblical teachings to industrialization-associated problems
 * Influenced the Progressive Movement and attacked Social Darwinism
 * Received support of multiple dominations and gained a strong foothold in interdenominational organizations by the 1890s
 * Included members from the Episcopal Church, the Congregational church, and the Baptist church
 * Mostly remained in industrial-American cities
 * Jane Addams, the Progressive activist, was a symbol of social gospel in action
 * Most members supported World War I, which was a chance to Christianize society & international politics
 * Persisted through pacifists & ecumenical organizations through the 1920s
 * Majority began to withdraw by the late 1920s
 * Fundamentalists claimed social gospel valued Christian faith only for its inspiration of social action.
 * Liberal theology's overemphasis on God's immanence in human society had made God an almost irrelevant component.
 * Fundamentalists identified all social Christianity with the liberal social gospel and associated Christianity with social conservatism.

**Washington Gladden (19th** **cent.)**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Usually showed more interest in social ethics & reform
 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Supported labor movement & called for interventionist welfare state
 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Failed to reach beyond middle-class liberal Protestant milieu
 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Greatest achievement was preparing middle-class America for Progressivism
 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Discovered liberal theology

<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">**Walter Rauschenbusch (20th cent.)**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">United German pietistic evangelicalism, theological liberalism, and social Christianity
 * <span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Connected the Kingdom of God to social salvation

__Sources:__ Reti-Solovets/Founded 1768 15th edition/Jacob E. Safra, Chairman of the Board pg 921
 * 1.** []
 * 2.** []
 * 3.** //Britannica Micropedia Ready Reference #10//
 * 4**. //America Past & Present/8th edition/AP* edition///Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, Williams, Gross & Brands pg 562

By: Mariah Worthington