The Social Gospel movement was a powerful and broad religious movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that advocated many social reforms and whose ideas about social justice continue to influence policy today. This liberal Christian religious movement began after the Civil War in 1865 and continued until about 1920.
Its goal was to solve social problems caused by industrialization and urbanization by applying individual Christian principles to society as a whole. Protestant clergy became increasingly interested in social justice as they witnessed urban poverty and squalor brought on by industrialization and over-crowding, greater wealth disparity, and the decline of their congregations with the increase of Roman Catholic immigrants to the U.S. from Europe.
Using the teachings of Jesus in particular, his second commandment to “love thy neighbor as thyself” Protestant ministers began to believe and preach that salvation depended not just on loving God, but also in behaving like Jesus, loving your neighbor, doing good works, and taking care of the poor and needy. They believed that wealth was meant to be shared, not hoarded.
They did not believe in the concept of Social Darwinism or “the survival of the fittest,” a theory popular at the time, but rather, in looking out for the good of all. The popular phrase, “What would Jesus do?”, used by Christians to help with moral decisions, grew in popularity as a result of the Social Gospel movement. The phrase was part of the title of a book, In His Steps, What Would Jesus Do?, written by one of the leaders of the Social Gospel movement, Dr. Charles Monroe Sheldon (1857-1946).
Sheldon was a Congregational minister whose book was a compilation of stories told to his congregation about people facing a moral dilemma, to which he would pose the question, “What would Jesus do?” Some of the other leaders of the Social Gospel movement were Dr. Washington Gladden (1836-1918), a Congregational minister and leading member of the Progressive Movement, Josiah Strong (1847-1916),
Protestant clergyman who was a strong supporter of American imperialism, and Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918), a Baptist preacher and Christian theologian who wrote several influential books, among them Christianity and the Social Crisis, the most popular-selling religious book for three years after it was published, and A Theology of the Social Gospel.
Its goal was to solve social problems caused by industrialization and urbanization by applying individual Christian principles to society as a whole. Protestant clergy became increasingly interested in social justice as they witnessed urban poverty and squalor brought on by industrialization and over-crowding, greater wealth disparity, and the decline of their congregations with the increase of Roman Catholic immigrants to the U.S. from Europe.
Using the teachings of Jesus in particular, his second commandment to “love thy neighbor as thyself” Protestant ministers began to believe and preach that salvation depended not just on loving God, but also in behaving like Jesus, loving your neighbor, doing good works, and taking care of the poor and needy. They believed that wealth was meant to be shared, not hoarded.
They did not believe in the concept of Social Darwinism or “the survival of the fittest,” a theory popular at the time, but rather, in looking out for the good of all. The popular phrase, “What would Jesus do?”, used by Christians to help with moral decisions, grew in popularity as a result of the Social Gospel movement. The phrase was part of the title of a book, In His Steps, What Would Jesus Do?, written by one of the leaders of the Social Gospel movement, Dr. Charles Monroe Sheldon (1857-1946).
Sheldon was a Congregational minister whose book was a compilation of stories told to his congregation about people facing a moral dilemma, to which he would pose the question, “What would Jesus do?” Some of the other leaders of the Social Gospel movement were Dr. Washington Gladden (1836-1918), a Congregational minister and leading member of the Progressive Movement, Josiah Strong (1847-1916),
Protestant clergyman who was a strong supporter of American imperialism, and Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918), a Baptist preacher and Christian theologian who wrote several influential books, among them Christianity and the Social Crisis, the most popular-selling religious book for three years after it was published, and A Theology of the Social Gospel.
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