| Part of a series of articles on Christianity |
| Social Christianity |
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| Major figures |
| Francis of Assisi Wilhelm E.F. von Ketteler Pope Leo XIII · Adolph Kolping Edward Bellamy Margaret Wedgwood Benn Phillip Berryman · James Hal Cone Dorothy Day · Toni Negri Leo Tolstoy · Óscar Romero Gustavo Gutiérrez · Abraham Kuyper Daniel Berrigan · Philip Berrigan Martin Luther King, Jr. Walter Rauschenbusch Desmond Tutu · Tommy Douglas Joseph Smith, Jr. |
| Organizations |
| Confederation of Christian Trade Unions Catholic Worker Movement Christian Socialist Movement United Order |
| Key concepts |
| Subsidiarity · Christian anarchism Marxism · Liberation theology Praxis School · Precarity Human dignity · Social market economy Communitarianism · Distributism Catholic social teaching Neo-Calvinism · Neo-Thomism Bishop's storehouse |
| Key documents |
| Rerum Novarum (1891) Princeton Stone Lectures (1898) Populorum Progressio (1967) Centesimus Annus (1991) Caritas in Veritate (2009) |
| Christianity Portal |
Christian socialism is a socialist ideology that regards capitalism as a faith or ideology to be rooted in the mortal sin of avarice and claim it is a form of mammon worship.[1] Christian socialists identify the cause of inequality to be associated with greed that they associate with capitalism.[2]
Christian socialism became a major movement in the United Kingdom beginning in the 1960s through the Christian Socialist Movement.[3]
The term also pertains to such earlier figures as the nineteenth century writers Frederick Denison Maurice (The Kingdom of Christ, 1838), Charles Kingsley (The Water-Babies, 1863), Thomas Hughes (Tom Brown's Schooldays, 1857), Frederick James Furnivall (co-creator of the Oxford English Dictionary), Adin Ballou (Practical Christian Socialism, 1854), and Francis Bellamy (a Baptist minister and the author of the United States' Pledge of Allegiance).
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In Victorian Britain, the art critic John Ruskin in his later life expounded theories about social justice in Unto This Last (1860). The painters of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were influenced and sponsored by Ruskin. The artist William Morris was a leader of the Socialist League founded in December 1884. The Fabian Society was founded in the same year; Sydney and Beatrice Webb were its leading members. George Bernard Shaw and the members of the Bloomsbury Group were also influenced by the Fabians. Such Christian socialist thinkers were important in the early history of the British Labour party.
In Catholicism, the Rerum Novarum encyclical of Leo XIII (1891) was the starting point of a teaching on social questions that was expanded and updated all through the 20th century. Despite the introduction of social thought as an object of religious thought, Rerum Novarum explicitly rejects what it calls "the main tenet of socialism":
"Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonwealth. The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property." Rerum Novarum, paragraph 16
The encyclical promotes a kind of corporatism based on social solidarity among the classes with respects for the needs and rights of all.
In the November 1914 issue of the The Christian Socialist, Episcopal bishop Franklin Spencer Spalding of Utah, U.S.A. stated: "The Christian Church exists for the sole purpose of saving the human race. So far she has failed, but I think that Socialism shows her how she may succeed. It insists that men cannot be made right until the material conditions be made right. Although man cannot live by bread alone, he must have bread. Therefore the Church must destroy a system of society which inevitably creates and perpetuates unequal and unfair conditions of life. These unequal and unfair conditions have been created by competition. Therefore competition must cease and cooperation take its place."[4]
Despite the explicit rejection of Socialism, in the more Catholic countries of Europe the encyclical's teaching was the inspiration that led to the formation of new Christian democratic parties.
A number of Christian socialist movements and political parties throughout the world group themselves into the International League of Religious Socialists. It has member organizations in 21 countries representing 200,000 members.
Christian socialists draw parallels between what some have characterized as the egalitarian and anti-establishment message of Jesus, who–according to the Gospel–spoke against the religious authorities of his time, and the egalitarian, anti-establishment, and sometimes anti-clerical message of most contemporary socialisms. Some Christian Socialists have become active Communists. This phenomenon was most common among missionaries in China, the most notable being James Gareth Endicott, who became supportive of the struggle of the Communist Party of China in the 1930s and 1940s.
Christian socialism is not to be confused with certain parties with "Christian Social" in their names which are found in the German-speaking world, such as the contemporary Christian Social Union in Bavaria or the Christian Social Party in Austria-Hungary c. 1900. Such parties do not claim to be socialist, nor are they considered socialist by others. The term Christian Democrat is more appropriately applied to the contemporary parties.
Socialism was strongly criticized in the 1878 papal encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris by Pope Leo XIII. It was again denounced in the 1931 letter Quadragesimo Anno. Socialists were accused of attempting to overthrow all existing civil society, and Christian socialism was deemed to be an oxymoron because of this. Pius XI famously wrote at the time that "no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist".[5]
Non-socialist, conservative and demochristian parties:
The British Labour Party, Australian Labor Party and New Democratic Party of Canada have both been influenced by Christian socialism, and some figures from both parties could be considered to be Christian socialists, depending on the definition of "socialism" used.
Former British Labour leader Tony Blair is a member of the Christian Socialist Movement[6] although his adherence to Christian Socialist ideals is highly disputed, as he is much further to the right than most "socialists".[7]
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd identified himself as an "old-fashioned Christian socialist" in a 2003 interview with The Australian Financial Review,[8] later writing in 2006: "A Christian perspective, informed by a social gospel or Christian socialist tradition, should not be rejected contemptuously by secular politicians as if these views are an unwelcome intrusion into the political sphere."[9] However he also described socialism as an "arcane, 19th century" doctrine and stated that "I am not a socialist. I have never been a socialist and I never will be a socialist."[10]
The following list includes other well-known Christian socialists:
If we all came of the same father and mother, of Adam and Eve, how can they say or prove that they are better than we, if it be not that they make us gain for them by our toil what they spend in their pride? John Ball[11]
Socialism which means love, cooperation and brotherhood in every department of human affairs, is the only outward expression of a Christian's faith. I am firmly convinced that whether they know it or not, all who approve and accept competition and struggle against each other as the means whereby we gain our daily bread, do indeed betray and make of no effect the "will of God." George Lansbury
Capitalism is the way of the devil and exploitation. If you really want to look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ–who I think was the first socialist–only socialism can really create a genuine society. Hugo Chávez[12]
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