Directory of Social Gospel Resources

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Social Gospel was a prominent Protestant movement in the late 19th and early to mid 20th century that attempted to apply Christian principles to social problems. Part of Christian "modernism" with a strong emphasis on social justice the movement was a rival to evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity. In the United States prior to World War I, the Social Gospel was the religious wing of U.S. "progressive" politics which had the aim of combating injustice, suffering and poverty in society. Sometimes called "Christian socialism" the movement was especially influential in Canada and led many ministers to become active in the socialist movement in the form of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and later the New Democratic Party. Social Gospel is still influential in Canada's United Church and in the Anglican Church but has less influence in the United States. It also remains influential among "Christian socialist" circles in Britain in the Church of England, Methodist and Calvinist movements.

Subcategories

• Douglas, Tommy
• Gladden, Washington
• Harnack, Adolf von
• King, Martin Luther, Jr.
• Opposing Views
• Rauschenbusch, Walter
• Thomas, Norman
• Wallace, Henry Agard
• Woodsworth, James S.

Resources in This Category

• Black Social Gospel

  http://www.vernonjohns.org/tcal001/vjbscgsp.html
  Examines African-American figures in the social gospel movement.

• Capitalism in the Gilded Age: The Social Gospel

  http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h850.html
  Short item on the social gospel movement with profiles of leading figures Washington Gladden and Walter Rauschenbusch.

• Christian Socialism

  http://spartacus-educational.com/REsocialism.htm
  Essay on the movement from Spartacus Schoolnet.

• Christian Socialism is Possible

  http://www.ucalgary.ca/~nurelweb/evang/red-web.html
  Irving Hexham responds to John Redekopp in this Christian Week article.

• Fundamentalism and the Social Gospel

  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/monkeytrial/peopleevents/e_gospel.html
  Background article from the companion site to PBS' American Experience episode on the Scope's Monkey Trial.

• Jerusalem

  http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/rulebritannia.asp#Jerusalem
  Hymn favoured by Christian socialists and the social gospel movement in Britain and North America.

• Jubilee: The Social Gospel - Revival of Socialism

  http://www.piney.com/JubileJewish.html
  Christian view on the concept of the Jewish concept of Jubilee which means the redistribution of wealth, the protection of the earth, and the celebration of community.

• Liberalism in Religious Thought - White Social Gospel

  http://www.vernonjohns.org/tcal001/vjwscgsp.html
  Background information on the social gospel movement in the twentieth century and prominent figures in it.

• lifeissues.net | The Churches and the Social Gospel

  http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/ron/ron_125socialchurch.html
  Ronald Rolheiser argues that the churches have been, and still are, at those places with the poor where nobody else wants to be.

• NOW with Bill Moyers. Society and Community. History of the Social Gospel | PBS

  http://www.pbs.org/now/society/socialgospel.html
  Information about the Social Gospel tradition of Christian socialism.

• Practical Christian Socialism

  http://www.adinballou.org/pcs.shtml
  Selections from Practical Christianity, An Epitome of Practical Christian Socialism by Adin Ballou, edited by Lynn Gordon Hughes.

• Social and Religious Context of the Social Gospel

  http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/courses/his338/students/kpotter/pol_rel.htm
  The excesses of the Victorian age gave foundation to a number of important political and religious trends that which converged to give rise to the Social Gospel.

• Social Gospel

  http://latter-rain.com/kingdom/socgos.htm
  Short discussion of the conflict between social gospel and evangelical Christianity.

• Social Gospel

  http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/western/bldef_socialgospel.htm
  Article from the Glossary of Religion and Philosophy.

• Social Gospel Theology

  http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/courses/his338/students/kpotter/theology.htm
  An explanation of the theological position of the social gospel movement.

• The Christian Socialist Movement

  http://www.thecsm.org.uk/
  Based in Britain and active in the Labour Party, the CSM is in a tradition that stretches back to the early church. "We all share a belief in justice, peace and the wholeness of creation."

• The Life and Times of the Prophet Vernon Johns: Father of the Civil Rights Movement

  http://www.vernonjohns.org/tcal001/vjtofc.html
  Online book by Dr. Patrick L. Cooney  and Henry W. Powell examines the life of the liberal clergeyman and civil rights leader with an extensive look at liberal Christianity and its role in the social justice movements.

• The Prophetic Imperative: Social Gospel in Theory and Practice

  http://www.uua.org/documents/lfd/propheticimperative_guide.pdf
  Discussion guide to the book by Richard S. Gilbert.

• The Ram's Horn

  http://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/rams_horn/default
  Presenting texts and especially cartoons from The Ram's Horn, an interdenominational social gospel magazine of the 1890s in the United States.

• The Reverend Henry Wallace

  http://www.anbhf.org/pdf/wallace.pdf
  Paper by economics professor Richard E. Hattwick on the social gospel minister and agricultural reformer who was the grandfather of Vice President Henry A. Wallace.

• What Was Chautauqua

  http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/traveling-culture/essay.htm
  Historical essay on the Christian educational movement named after the resort in New York state.

• World Missions and the Social Gospel

  http://justus.anglican.org/resources/timeline/14missions.html
  Anglican timeline.

Related Categories

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• Home > Society > Politics > Socialism
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