Talk:Social Gospel
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[edit] Redirect: Social Gospel Movement
Would someone redirect "Social Gospel Movement" to this article? "Social Gospel movement" redirects, but not "Social Gospel Movement".
[edit] Decline of the Social Gospel movement
The decline of the Social Gospel movement in the United States well predates the ascendancy of the modern Christian right movement. The article dates them fairly accurately, with the decline of the Social Gospel movement beginning in the mid-20th century, and the rise of the modern manifestation of the Christian right in the 1980s (many would say precisely in 1980). Obviously cause-and-effect is lacking for this chronology to be correct; perhaps it is better said that the Social Gospel collapsed under its own weight and later the Christian right moved in to fill the vacuum, but this would require lots of refinement to present in a NPOV fashion. Rlquall 00:20, 25 May 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Social Gospel origins earlier than suggested
It is fair to say that the social gospel movement originated as far back as the abolitionist movement during the 1850s/1860s and then continued to gain momentum into the late 19th century through many social organizations that became the basis for the modern-day United Way. The Beecher family should be cited as early leaders of the Social Gospel movement, specifically Henry Ward Beecher. However, it should be noted that it was primarily a number of separate movements in the mid-19th century but really did not become a coalition and an ideal until the turn of the century.
I would disagree that the social gospel is opossed to evangelical christiality as many of the earlyest proponents on this idea where evangelicals. A good example of this is james kier hardie who could be seen as one of the founders of chrisitan socialism and was an evangelical lay preacher.
[edit] Not so exclusively "left"
I don't think that it's quite so cut and dried, that the Social Gospel is so exclusively associated with the (modern) political left, or with liberal Christianity. This is especially problematic when the article claims that the social gospel declined with the rise of the Christian right. A case could easily be made that the "Christian right" is just as much a part of the Social gospel movement as Abolition and Prohibition were (that is, some historians of religion do make this case). — Mark (Mkmcconn) ** 13:52, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
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- How does the Christian right fit in?? Maybe we need some theology. The Social Gospel was 95% post-Millenarian (Second Coming is AFTER we perfect the earth by human efforts) and 95% of Religious Right is Pre-Millenarian (Second Coming will be soon, prepare mostly for it) Rjensen 16:18, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Clarify?
From third paragraph: "After 1980 it weakened again as a major force inside mainstream churches; indeed the those churches were losing strength. "
I am lost as to the intent of the second bit of that... I will not attempt to edit it, as I have no clear idea of what it was originally intended to convey. Jehar 18:51, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Needs to fix a present slant
The page is strongly POV in that it entirely neglects evangelical involvement, which was at the root of the Social Gospel. I have removed the following statement to here for talk, as it is a particularly egregious POV expression.
"Part of the Christian "modernism" trend with a strong emphasis on social justice, the movement is a rival to the later movements of evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity."
The social gospel arose from the great evangelical awakenings as the church saw its duty to be involved with the needs of the world. However as liberals took over control of many of the mainline denominations in the 20th century, it changed focus from being what the churches should be doing, and became a lobbying effort to get the government to do it. Most of the mainline denominations in the US have a department that lobbies in Washington. At the same time Evangelicals are heavily involved in many activities to feed the poor and visit the prisoner, etc. The page needs to be rewritten to conform to the facts, and have the POV slant removed. Pollinator 13:46, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
- Could you please site some sources fro this opinion as Henry F. May: Protestant Churches and the Industrial America, Spenser Mille & Joseph Fletcher: The Church and Industry, David Holmes: A Brief History of the Episcopal Church, Hopkins: Rise of the Social Gospel, and Washington Gladden: Reflections all seem to contradict everything you have said. Jfmiller28 22:43, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
- The core advocacy areas of the Social Gospel movement, like child labor laws and universal education, were about changing social structures to achieve Christian goals. Since social justice is principally defined in terms of achieving social ends through structural change, it's very hard to argue that the Social Gospel movement was not about social justice. Practically all Christians would agree that feeding the poor and visiting the prisoner are noble activities, but they are by definition not an exercise in social justice.
- The fundamentalist movement was, again by definition, a reaction to Christian Modernism and the liberal theology and social interactions it promoted. Evangelicalism is a pretty broad term, but arguably few institutions self-identifying as part of that movement have ever endorsed the practices of the Social Gospel movement. People who practiced evangelism certainly were at the root of the Social Gospel, but that has no bearing on Evangelicalism.
- Some Christian Wikipedians may likewise not endorse the Social Gospel or the involvement of churches in social justice, and they have a right to their POV. Since the sentence removed on 29 December 2006 appears to me to be a NPOV statement of historical fact, I recommend adding it back in to the article mainspace. I will probably make that change soon, absent further discussion. --Belgrano (talk) 22:56, 20 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] new redirect needed
Someone should put a redirect here from "the social gospel." I don't know how to do it. ForgetfulDoryFish (talk) 15:33, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
Never mind. I figured it out and made it. ForgetfulDoryFish (talk) 17:41, 24 May 2008 (UTC)
