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5.0 out of 5 stars
An Interesting examination of the evolving American society, October 26, 2002
This review is from: Christianity and the Social Crisis (Library of Theological Ethics) (Paperback)
Walter Rauschenbusch, a devout Protestant minister, was horrified by what he described as the "social crisis" that permeated American society and politics in the early 1900s. Yet he did not despair or advocate "more government" as a solution. Rather, he argued compelling that the church must play a central role in restoring social order. Indeed, Rauschenbusch alleged that Christianity's future depended on its capacity to restore social harmony and to persuade businesses to feed the masses, not just cater to elites. Rauschenbusch extolled the value of community, "gemeinschaft, " and excoriated "gesellschaft, " an atomized, anonymous, individualistic society in which people are consumed by materialism and personal gain.
Rauschenbusch envisioned a Christian ethic that pervaded the social and economic lives of Americans. He blended ancient Christian thought with the new tools of social science, in order to identify and solve the "social crisis," arguing that "communism" (as he used the term) was fully consistent with Christianity. Rauschenbusch's burden was to show the people where, how, and why Christianity could help them.
Rauschenbusch was a seventh generation Lutheran minister, whose father emigrated to American from Germany in the 1850s. Rauschenbusch, the scholar, was a theologian at the Rochester Theological Seminary, where he taught for forty years. He also served the Second Baptist Church in New York City. Rauschenbusch, the theologian, historian, and sociologist published Christianity and the Social Crisis in 1907 and Christianizing the Social Order in 1912.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
ONE OF THE FIRST (AND MOST IMPORTANT) OF THE "SOCIAL GOSPEL", July 27, 2010
Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) was a Christian Theologian and Baptist Minister. He was one of the most important figures in the "Social Gospel" movement, and later wrote
Christianizing the Social Order and
A Theology for the Social Gospel to develop the ideas in this 1907 book.
He states in the Introduction, "the essential purpose of Christianity was to transform human society into the kingdom of God by regenerating all human relations and reconstituting them in accordance with the will of God. (This) raises the question why the Christian Church has never undertaken to carry out this fundamental purpose of its existence."
Here are some representative quotations from the book:
"Israel had no 'Fugitive Slave Law.' There is no record of any slave riots or of any burning slave question in its history."
"It is correctly asserted that the apostles undertook no social propaganda. Paul held no antislavery meetings, and Peter made no public protest against the organized grafting in the Roman system of tax-farming. Of course they did not. Even the most ardent Christian socialist of our day would have stepped softly if he had been in their place."
"When the capitalistic impulse tries to accumulate a cash balance in heaven and do business with the Lord on a debit and credit basis, commercialism poisons religion."
"If, then, any average wage-earner in the churches has actually given a tenth of his income, he deserves profound respect... And if we have allowed the impression to prevail that the giving of one-tenth by all was equal giving for all, we have unwittingly inflicted a grievous injustice on the poorer church members."
"A system which would distribute wealth with approximate fairness and equality would offer honest religion the best working chance."
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