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Walter Rauschenbusch On The Social Gospel

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Recommended: Religion in america during the mid-twentieth century

The Social Gospel

In the year 1886 a baptist clergyman began preaching in New York City. He went by the name of Walter Rauschenbusch. He “was a bridge between the Gilded age and the Progressive era of the early twentieth century” due to his beliefs that the Bible and it’s teachings could be applied to modern society.
Rauschenbusch rejected the modern belief that poverty was based on sin. A vast majority of people at the time, particularly the upper class, felt that if you were poor it was because you were sinning. For example, they thought that because you drank or because you worked on the sabbath day that is the reason for them being less fortunate. Rauschenbush shared the radical belief that we must change our ideals about society, and more importantly, follow the true word of the bible. …show more content…

He reminded his followers that traditionally “The Christian Church in the past has taught us to do our work with our eyes fixed on another world and a life to come.” Here, he is basically saying that as amazing as heaven is we need to improve the world around us while we are here. He referred to the bible as having “social wealth”, meaning that the society at the time could find lessons and inspiration if they read the texts more carefully. The bible reads: “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts, 20:35) So while salvation is important to the church, helping the less fortunate was a pillar of the bible, and

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