Theologians of all ideological stripes agree Walter Rauschenbusch was a key figure in 20th-century Baptist history and that his 1917 book \u201cA Theology for the Social Gospel\u201d marked an important juncture in the social gospel tradition.<\/p>\n
But students of theology are divided 100 years later on whether Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) should be remembered as a friend or foe of evangelism and sound doctrine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalter Rauschenbusch was born into a long line of pastors,\u201d said Lloyd Harsch, professor of church history and Baptist studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. \u201cHis father was the first to become a Baptist. While in his late 20s and early 30s, Walter served for more than a decade as pastor of Second German Baptist Church which was located in the destitute, crime-ridden area of Hell\u2019s Kitchen in New York City.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was in this context that Walter came to the conclusion that his evangelistic efforts needed to include concern for the social issues affecting the neighborhood,\u201d Harsch told Baptist Press in written comments. \u201cEventually, the social concern came to dominate his ministry. Rauschenbusch reminds us that even worthy issues pursued with the best of intentions can eventually distract us, drawing us away from the important task of sharing the Gospel with those around us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Published amid the early 20th century\u2019s social gospel movement — which sought to apply Christian principles to social problems like poverty, alcoholism and racial tensions — \u201cA Theology for the Social Gospel\u201d argued the \u201cold message of salvation\u201d must be \u201cenlarged and intensified\u201d to address social ills.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe individualistic gospel,\u201d Rauschenbusch wrote, \u201chas taught us to see the sinfulness of every human heart and has inspired us with faith in the willingness and power of God to save every soul that comes to him. But it has not given us an adequate understanding of the sinfulness of the social order and its share in the sins of all individuals within it.<\/p>\n
\u201c…The social gospel seeks to bring men under repentance for their collective sins and to create a more sensible and more modern conscience,\u201d wrote Rauschenbusch, who left the pastorate in 1897 to teach at Rochester Theological Seminary in upstate New York.<\/p>\n
In developing a theology to support the social gospel movement, Rauschenbusch critiqued historic formulations of some Christian doctrines.<\/p>\n
He argued, for example, that the doctrine of biblical inspiration should acknowledge \u201cthe human frailty and liability to error\u201d of the biblical authors. The idea Jesus\u2019 death was a \u201csubstitution\u201d and that He bore God\u2019s wrath toward sinful humans, Rauschenbusch wrote, was among a collection of \u201cpost-biblical ideas\u201d that were \u201calien to the spirit of the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, his emphasis on the need for Christianity to address social problems led Rauschenbusch to \u201ca national acclaim rarely accorded seminary professors,\u201d wrote Rauschenbusch biographer Paul Minus.<\/p>\n
Neoorthodox theologian H. Richard Niebuhr wrote in \u201cThe Kingdom of God in America\u201d that Rauschenbusch \u201ccontinued to speak the language of the prophets and St. Paul.\u201d Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in 1960 that Rauschenbusch \u201cleft an indelible imprint on my thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among Southern Baptists, former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary ethics professor Henlee Barnette classified Rauschenbusch in a 1968 sermon as among the \u201cthree great prophets\u201d America had produced. The other two, Barnette said, were King and Abraham Lincoln.<\/p>\n
Yet Rauschenbusch also drew criticism. In the mid-20th century, neoorthodox theologians like Niebuhr \u201cdeclared his optimism excessive and certain doctrines deficient,\u201d Minus wrote. King was among those who agreed with that critique.<\/p>\n
Southern Baptists who admired Rauschenbusch knew mentioning him in some settings could alienate theologically conservative believers. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary ethics professor T.B. Maston, a noted civil rights advocate who was influenced by Rauschenbusch, said in his 1973 oral memoirs that he counseled seminary students to avoid referencing the social gospel in Southern Baptist churches.<\/p>\n
Using the word \u201csocial,\u201d Maston said, \u201carouses some opposition on the part of some people to what you\u2019re trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barnette similarly wrote in his 2004 memoir \u201cMy Story\u201d that \u201cSouthern Baptists had a phobia about the term\u201d social gospel and about Rauschenbusch — \u201cthe father of the social gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n
That reticence about the social gospel tradition manifested itself when the Baptist General Convention of Texas established a commission in 1950 to address social issues.<\/p>\n
Convention leaders called the new commission the Christian Life Commission rather than follow the Southern Baptist Convention\u2019s lead, which had named its commission charged with cultural engagement the Social Service Commission. Texas Baptists felt a reference to the \u201csocial\u201d gospel tradition of Rauschenbusch could undermine support for the new commission, former Texas CLC executive secretary A.C. Miller said in his 1972 oral memoir.<\/p>\n
In 1953, the SBC\u2019s Social Service Commission followed Texas Baptists\u2019 lead and changed its name to the Christian Life Commission. Four decades later, the CLC became the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.<\/p>\n
Despite the varying assessments of Rauschenbusch, church historians at SBC seminaries agree a century later that he rightly urged Christians to apply Scripture to social issues and that his work should be remembered.<\/p>\n
Keith Harper, senior professor of Baptist studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press Rauschenbusch \u201cengaged the social, cultural and economic issues of his day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Theologians of all ideological stripes agree Walter Rauschenbusch was a key figure in 20th-century Baptist history and that his 1917 book \u201cA Theology for the Social Gospel\u201d marked an important juncture in the social gospel tradition. But students of theology are divided 100 years later on whether Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) should be remembered as a friend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1620,597,216,5475],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}