What?
effort among Protestant Christians to improve the economic, moral, and social conditions of the poor
Who?
When?
Why?
Followers believed that if they met the physical needs of the poor......
... it would transform them spiritually and morally, and help them improve their lives.
Important People
Walter Rauschenbusch
- New York pastor
- dedicated himself to revising the attitude of American Christians
- taught that the duty of Christians
'is not a matter of getting individuals to heaven, but of transforming the life on earth into the harmony of heaven.'
- aggressively persuaded middle- and upper-class citizens that many social issues could be cured by
'practical Christianity.'
Washington Gladden
- considered to be the “Father of the Social Gospel”
- became a spokesman for liberal theology
- campaigned against Boss Tweed as acting editor of the
New York Independent
- opposed racial segregation
Other Important People include...
Josiah Strong
Congregational minister, revivalist, and organizer in the Social Gospel Movement.
Richard T. Ely
American economist, author, and founder of both the American Economic Association and the Christian Social Union
community centers located in urban slums where middle-class women volunteered to live and share their knowledge and culture with the poor around them in the spirit of charity and social justice
* 1917: Rauschenbusch writes
A Theology of the Social Gospel
discussed
individualistic gospel:
which has made the sinfulness of the individual clear but has not shed light on institutionalized sinfulness
(of the individualistic gospel)
"It has not evoked faith in the will and power of God to redeem the permanent institutions of human society from their inherited guilt of oppression and extortion."
would go on to inspire some of the most influential men of all time, including Martin Luther King, Jr.
calls for a return to the doctrine of the Kingdom of God
*1918: Deaths of the leaders of the Social Gospel Movement (Walter Rauschenbusch, Josiah Strong, and Washington Gladden). Leadership was gone and therefore caused the end of the movement.
also caused by the rise of neo-orthodoxy
but reappeared in the
Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s
:)
Sources:
"History of the Social Gospel." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
Josiah Strong. Digital image. Facts On File History Database Center. Infobase Learning, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
Lester Ward. Digital image. ASA Centennial. American Sociological Association, 14 Apr. 2005. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
Lutz, Alexandra. "The Social Gospel Movement: Definition and Goals of Urban Reform Movements." Education Portal. Education Portal, n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
Social Gospel & the Public Good. Digital image. Aberhart the Man. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
Social Gospel Movement. Digital image. Glogster. Glogster, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
"Timeline of the Social Gospel Movement." Progressiveeradotcom. WordPress, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
Walter Rauschenbusch. Digital image. Georgetown College. Georgetown College, 26 Mar. 2001. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
YMCA Logo. Digital image. My Kenosha. Blogger, 4 Oct. 2013. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
The Social Gospel Movement
Challenges
The movement had to go head to head with prominent political issues such as child labor, prohibition of alcohol and women's suffrage. In the end, poverty and social problems were too overwhelming for the movement to fix.
Opposition
An early pioneer in the field of sociology, named Lester Ward, believed that society could be improved not through the application of religion, but through the application of the scientific method. Ward promoted sociology as a scholarly discipline, introducing university courses that studied trends in society and developed academic theory to address the problems they defined. Ward's belief in a scientific cure for society was very influential in the Progressive era. Ward's ideas led to opposition of the Social Gospel Movement.
Results
Although it was not entirely successful, the Social Gospel Movement had a few accomplishments. George Williams created the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) to provide a refuge of faith among the vices of London's slums. William Booth created the Salvation Army to lend a helping hand and to meet spiritual and physical needs of people without discrimination. The Social Gospel Movement is known to have influenced the American Civil Rights movement and inspired MLK.
Major Dates
-1836-1918: Washington Gladden
-1847-1918: Josiah Strong
-1861-1918: Walter Rauschenbusch
-1900: New York State Conference of Religion – ideas and leaders born during this meeting.
Accomplishments
-1914: By the start of World War 1 the Social Gospel Movement began to decline
The concept of the Social Gospel spread, as Rauschenbusch had hoped, and was largely advocated by middle-class women. One of their biggest efforts was the establishment of
settlement houses.