What are two important modes of social engagement between Evangelicalism and the Social Gospel Movement? While Carl Henry espoused Evangelicalism, Walter Rauschenbusch was a leader of the Social Gospel movement. Within these two religious social engagement mechanisms, the course of Christian history would be forever changed.
While it may seem evangelical Christians are historically conservative politically; at the turn of the twentieth century, United States Christian evangelicals were at the forefront of socialism. However, socialism was seen as a threat to the church because it offered symbols, zeal and a sense of participation in a world transforming cause often associated with Christianity itself [1]. At this time, Walter Rauschenbusch, a Baptist minister presiding over the poor on Manhattan’s West side, brought forth ideals that an evangelical viewpoint should strongly embrace socialist thought. He pushed for changes embracing socialist ideals. For instance, support for unions, protective labor laws and more public ownership. On the one hand, he criticized secular socialists for their anti-religious stance, prejudices and a lack of personal morality, while seeing himself as a mediator between the Christian church and the emerging socialist movements.
Religion in American Church History Plays an Important Role in Social Reform
Religion has always played a significant role throughout American history in the promotion of social reform. From the Civil Rights movement to the Abolitionists from the early 19th century, religious leaders supported political causes. In fact, one of the most significant impacts on the religious left involved the Social Gospel movement. This movement began after the Civil War during the rise of the Industrial Revolution. Protestant churches of the times promoted Jesus’ ethical teachings as a solution to problems caused by capitalism. The message of “Love Thy Neighbor,” was hence taken into the pulpits and preached across the country.
Rauschenbusch was a great proponent of promoting the idea Christians needed to transform society in favor of the oppressed and poverty stricken. Consequently, Walter Rauschenbusch promulgated the legislation for an eight-hour work day and to abolish child labor in business and government. Rauschenbusch later wrote a book titled “Christianity and the Social Crises” in 1907. His book tied Christianity with democratic socialism theories in order to raise awareness, hoping to create equality and a just society. While the vision of the Social Gospel believed in radical yet peaceful social change, it was later recognized as the precipitous to the Civil Rights movement.
Evangelicalism began during the first Great Awakening of the 18th century and played an important role in shaping American religion. Carl Henry was considered the brain of the evangelical movement because he helped move evangelical Christianity from the sidelines to the forefront of Christian Religion. In 1913, Carl Henry was born in New York to a Lutheran father and a Roman Catholic mother. They were German immigrants who believed in Christ. At the age of 20, Henry edited a newspaper on Long Island called the Smith Town Star, when a young evangelist took interest in him. Attending Wheaton College in Illinois, he was part of a stellar call including Richard Halverson and Billy Graham.
He met a woman by the name of Helga Bender whom he married in 1940. Becoming ordained as a Baptist minister, he earned two doctorates in theology and in philosophy. Henry was a theologian who assisted in bringing evangelical Christianity from the sidelines to a central place in American religion. He published over 40 books that laid out intellectual defenses for a more literal understanding of scripture and the spreading of faith. He was responsible for starting several institutions such as Fuller Theological Seminary and the National Association of Evangelicals.
In 1947, Carl Henry wrote the book “The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism.” In this book, Henry argued that Christians must become more assertive, not withdraw and bring inspiration so others would turn to Christ not by coercion. This was a significant turning point in the church because it was the precipitous for a reawakening of the evangelical heritage of the 19th century. During these times, Christians had intellectual debates and social involvement.
Walter Rauschenbusch Engages Culture Through a Social Gospel
In 1885 Walter Rauschenbusch, a seventh generation minister became the pastor of the second German church in a crime infested neighborhood of New York city called Hell's Kitchen. From this vantage point social ills; collusion, corruption, crime and poverty were witnessed. In light of this corruption, a new theology and restructuring of society necessitated a social Gospel put into place to right society's wrongs.
Sin and evil were never trivialized by Rauschenbusch. He knew there were active forces alive in society and part of the problem within systematic institutions and the infrastructure of society came from this evil. Because of this problem, he knew that individuals needed Salvation. He found a kindred spirit in a renowned revivalist preacher by the name of Dwight Moody who wanted to see lives changed and improved by the power of Jesus Christ. Rauschenbusch began to wrestle with two significant issues in 1887; caring for the spiritual needs of his congregation and the social conditions in New York that were experienced by the poor. Because of this, Rauschenbusch desired to expand on the theology of sin and Salvation. He felt both topics were intensely personal. He began to articulate the theories of evil and mans need for social redemption. He had ideas about how Christianity would increase in American society. Rauschenbusch also had an interest in bringing institutions and social relationships in our country under the influence of the laws of Christ. With Christian principles operating in society, there would eventually be more social order.
Rauschenbusch likened the ministry of Jesus with the Old Testament in that He declared a great message of judgement on ancient Israel. His written works argue that Jesus was radical in His teaching and His fidelity to Israel. Jesus enlarged the scope of the Kingdom to embrace the nations of the world [2]. He also believed that God’s love was mainly focused on the transformation of individual personalities[3].
In one of Rausenbusch’s greatest works, he explores the beginning of the twentieth century and how Christianity confronts a time of immense social crisis which offers Christians opportunities to allow the social order to work more harmoniously with the purposes of God’s Kingdom. With all our differences, we can respect one another and learn from one another’s ways, without relinquishing the commitments we make on our own [4]. He believed the social crisis was a result of the mass population conflicting with the wealthy and powerful. Therefore, Rausenbusch looks at how Capitalism produced an unjust social and economic system. He wanted to shape a new society that had a more equitable distribution of resources. If churches were inactive to this effort, they were guilty with perpetuating the social injustice [5].
While Rausenbusch was an advocate of the Social Gospel, he wanted to take a closer look at what sin represented. While he explored the tenets of sin, he recognized there were super-human forces of evil that would manifest in social settings.
Rausenbusch believed that Salvation consisted of social and personal dimensions. The centrality of the Gospel came from the Kingdom of God through the message of Christ. While Jesus initiated the Kingdom, it had implication for a Christian to understand God and what the task of the church was.
Because Classical theology failed to properly convey the social aspect of sin, it was viewed as a private matter instead of a sin against God. It was also a sin against humanity due to the connection people have with one another. Theology fails to point to the complexity of sin. It is also transmitted from biological traits passed down from generation to generation. One absorbs sin from his social group, thus the concept of collective sin appears as a super-personal force of evil transmitted through the lines of the social group [6]. A person will find Salvation if they turn away from themselves to God and humanity. If one can completely give up selfishness, they will find Salvation in cooperative work with others. Having a religious experience through solidarity is more Christian than just spending time alone. Rausenbusch was adamant about the concept of sin and Salvation where one must reconsider it from a more Biblical perspective with corporate views of others proposed through the Social Gospel.
Having a narrow view of individual Salvation is lacking in a few respects. It ignores the teachings of Christ on discipleship as servanthood and obedience but also unconsciously emphasizes a personal selfishness. It also tends to see an individual’s Salvation as ultimately important without recognizing the redemption of social institutions and a creation of the right environment so a person can be transformed [7]. The purpose of the Social Gospel is to make the vision of Social Salvation happen. The individualistic idea of Salvation is narrow and can be corrected if focused on God’s Kingdom where a deeper social aspect of humanity can expose sin. The Doctrine of the Kingdom of God is the core of the Social Gospel through which other theological ideologies are placed to surround it in support of the Social Gospel. Rauschenbusch looks at Christ as the initiator of God’s Kingdom [8].
Carl Henry Engages Culture through Evangelicalism
On the heals of the Social Gospel movement, Carl Henry was an advocate of social engagement and encouraged believers to engage in every aspect of public life during the 1940s. His published works on believers demonstrating their faith through education, politics, family, church and community emphasized that many Christians had time to grow and mature in their faith. It was now time to take action [9]. Henry emphasized the importance of Christian colleges for vocations. He believed these institutions had potential for preparing believers for ministry and other cultural engagements within and outside of the church. Evangelicalism would prove to be one of the most impactful religious movements of its time [10]. Henry’s belief in public ministry did not advocate activism over theology, rather the fulfillment of obedience for God’s plan and purposes for Christians [11].
The main purpose of Henry’s belief in having a grounded theological education was to provide its students with a deeper understanding of the Bible. With a grounded theological education, the believer would be knowledgeable in ethics and vocation. Henry encouraged his students to learn a vocation. Not only was it essential to learn about one’s faith, but it was a reality one must embrace to fully become a Christian. Henry believed in living a rewarding life, with the important role that science played, understanding human history and knowing about the nature of God in the overall design and purpose for each believer. This desire led Henry into an education in the liberal arts so that he could fully grasp the Christian worldview [12]. Henry conveyed to his audience, the importance of a good theological education, so they could be shaped by professors, faculty, curriculum and the ethos of the school they attended.
Carl Henry spent time on the liberal arts faculty of Hillsdale College in the late 1980s mentoring students. His belief was that faculty should embrace and master Christian doctrine, while also mastering the teaching disciplines and mentoring students who would be living out their Christian world-views. In order for a Christian to live out their world-view, Henry believed the educational experience should include a personal and residential environment. This involved thinking colleagues surrounded by willing students so the scholastic experience would be very personal and family oriented. Henry warned against colleges and seminaries that were more practice oriented and dependent on extension and online teaching for the sake of public funding to be dangerous to the Evangelical mission [13].
The foundation of Henry’s belief on Salvation hinged around Isaiah 53 where the prophecy of the suffering servant dies for humanity. In (Matthew 20:28), “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve others, and to give his life as a ransom for many,” Henry saw this scripture as representative of the substitution of life for the masses. According to (1 Corinthians 15:3), “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” The Holy God of Israel is only propitiated by the redemptive work on the cross and the incarnate sacrifice of Christ. Romans 3:21. Henry believed the death of Christ fulfilled the Old Testament as well as the Old Testament sacrificial system.
Henry believed that the atonement of Christ produced an unbreakable union, an atonement for humanity. This unbreakable bond between God and mankind spoke of God’s infinite love for His people. According to (Luke 22:19-20) , “This is my body said Jesus, which is broken for you.” “The Son of God ‘loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) Henry believed that God dealt with the sin of humanity out of love. God could have chosen wrath, but instead He intervened in the affairs of man and sent His only begotten son to atone for the sins of the world out of His unfailing love. This should not be confused with the fact that God made a personal intervention; rather, He became involved through the Salvation of humanity by allowing His Son to be sacrificed for the sake of humanity. [14].
Historical Impacts of the Social Gospel Movement and Evangelicalism
While early Christians enjoyed the social aspects of Christianity, the meaning of Social Gospel meant something entirely different. This Gospel placed emphasis on the physical present. It was mainly concerned with how a man could improve his physical condition through economics, than improving his soul in this life and the afterlife. Churches that embraced the Social Gospel were concerned with taking care of basic needs, more so than they were concerned with the spiritual needs of man through Salvation.
As labor disputes with unions began addressing social injustices, the movement of the Social Gospel was born. The Social Gospel reformers were great advocates of organizing fair labor and the importance of a historical approach to the scriptures. While the early years of the 19th century had Protestantism to express its social concerns, the emphasis was more on charity and moral reform. The Social Gospel could focus on the more corporate affairs of modern society and the achievement of social justice. With the advancement of justice, the Social Gospel in the Kingdom of God was prominent in the lives of many Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists. Courses on ethics were added to the seminary curriculum and departments of social action were founded under Christian influence. The Social Gospel not only began in Liberalism, it distorted the basic nature of the mission of Christ. Jesus wasn’t depicted in Scripture as a social worker rather, Jesus would have said to those seeing Him in that light “Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that which endures into everlasting life.” (John 6:27) Hence, the Social Gospel corrupts the character of the Gospel and perverts the mission of the church.
Evangelicalism developed out of the necessity to overcome an overly intellectual approach to Christianity. Most movements are birthed because one movement goes too far. The pendulum of Evangelicalism began to push itself in the opposite direction. Not only was Christianity vital, it must also be experientially felt. While Evangelicalism provided a counter world to chaos and insecurity, Americans held to a vision of direction, order and discipline with a sense of security coming from a Salvational promise. As a politically active movement especially in the 1970s, it reacted to issues endangering the core fabric of its empire. Common causes propelled themselves into political activity such as the
Civil Rights Movement, legalized abortion and public policy as part of a symbiotic relationship that existed between a political organization and a successful social movement. Joining forces to ride the same wave, sharing resources to maximize change in the socio-political landscape meant there were alliances with political parties; thus allowing political organizations to elect their own people to gain power and further an ideologically motivated agenda [15]. Unfortunately, Evangelicalism negated the importance of the mind and intellectually understanding important aspects of scripture and placed as primary importance the emotional reactions and experiences of the believer.
With the spread of Evangelism in the early part of the century, there was a resistance to any kind of spiritual hierarchy. It was understood that every Christian must experience their own transformation and conversion. While these convictions were necessary, there was a sort of pandering approach to Christianity that encouraged believers to do whatever they could to reach the multitudes.
On the one hand, Evangelicalism was pragmatic in the sense it was justified as long as it produced the results it sought. As long as believers experienced vital and transformative spiritual occurrences, the actual practice itself wasn’t as important. Some evangelicals may dodge the concept of oppression as strictly the work of Satan while not understanding the context of oppression as poverty or political oppression. Evangelicals are active in charitable works within their communities, although working with the poor and oppressed are not as essential. While evangelicals are more focused on spiritual Salvation, the Social Gospel espouses a social Salvation.
References
[1]. Dorn, J.H. (1993). The social gospel and socialism: A comparison of the thought of Francis Greenwood Peabody, Washington Gladden and Walter Rauschenbusch. JSTOR, 1(62), https://daily.jstor.org/when-christian-evangelicals-loved-socialism/
[2]. Dorien, G. (1995). Soul in Society: The Making and Renewal of Social Christianity. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Retrieved on 2/8/17: http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/bce/rauschenbusch.htm
[3]. Ibid.
[4]. Jacobs, J. (2015). Religious Ideals and the Idea of Liberalism. Political Theology, 502-520.
[5]. Dorien, G. (1995). Soul in Society: The Making and Renewal of Social Christianity. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Retrieved on 2/8/17: http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/bce/rauschenbusch.htm
[6]. Ibid.
[7]. Ibid.
[8]. Ibid.
[9]. House, P.R. (1946). Making Christian Minds: Carl Henry and Christian Higher Education: Remaking the Modern Mind. Retrieved on 2/8/17:
http://www.uu.edu/journals/renewingminds/1/RM_Issue1_May2012_House.pdf
[10]. Ibid.
[11]. Woodbridge, J., & James, F.A. (2013). Church History, Volume Two: From Pre- Reformation to the Present Day: The Rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and political. (2nd ed.). Zondervan: Grand Rapids, MI.
[12]. Ibid.
[13]. House, P.R. (1946). Making Christian Minds: Carl Henry and Christian Higher Education: Remaking the Modern Mind. Retrieved on 2/8/17:
http://www.uu.edu/journals/renewingminds/1/RM_Issue1_May2012_House.pdf
[14]. Ibid.
[15]. Galli, M. (2017). Evangelical distinctives in the 21st century. Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/november-web-only/evangelical-distinctives-in-21st-century.html
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