Charles Sheldon

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Charles Sheldon (February 26, 1857 Wellsville, New York - February 24, 1946) was an American minister in the Congregational churches and leader of the Social Gospel movement.

Sheldon is a graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover (Class of 1879). He became an advocate of the late nineteenth century stream of thought known as Christian Socialism. His theological outlook focused on the practicalities of the moral life, with much less emphasis on the doctrinal traditions of personal redemption from sin in Christ. In the 1880s Sheldon developed a series of sermons that he preached from the pulpit of the Congregational church in Topeka, Kansas. The unifying theme of these sermons was based on posing the question, "what would Jesus do?" when facing moral decisions.

The theme of the sermons was later fictionalised into the novel In His Steps. The central ethos of the novel was not about personal redemption but about moral choices related to encountering circumstances of poverty and deprivation. Sheldon's theological motif reflected his socialist outlook, and it helped to inspire the theologian Walter Rauschenbusch who is generally credited with creating the Social Gospel. However, Rauschenbusch acknowledged that Sheldon was the source of his ideas. Sheldon's own parish work became identified with the Social Gospel, which was a clear cut expression of early Liberal Christianity.

Towards the end of the twentieth century Sheldon's novel was brought back into print in a discerning marketing stratagem that was accompanied by a variety of consumer goods carrying the slogan "What would Jesus do?". One theologian, James Smylie, has analyzed the impact of Sheldon's novel and argues that it offers a poor calculus for mature ethical and moral decision making on the part of Christians.

Sheldon's Christian Socialist ideology was reflected in his belief in full equality for men and women and vocally supported the feminist struggle for equal rights. He urged women to become involved in politics, believing that there they would make a difference for the better. He also supported that women should have full equality in the workplace and saw nothing wrong with men working in traditionally feminine jobs, such as domestic service.