Theology for the Social Gospel: a Book Review Essay

Words: 2029
Pages: 9
Open Document
October 27, 2010

Rauschenbusch, Walter. A Theology for the Social Gospel. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1917. 279 pp.

Culturally speaking, Walter Rauschenbusch may have been years ahead of his time. From the very first chapter of his most famous work, Rauschenbusch’s passion for social justice is quite evident. He certainly had his finger on the pulse of his current generation, noting the compelling movement of the college students of his day to social service (3). It could be argued that the current generation shares this passion and perhaps even his theology. Unfortunately, while as believers we are called to “act justly and love mercy” (Micah 6:8), Rauschenbusch’s system of theology to uphold this love for social justice …show more content…
He also calls theology and “affair of experts” (16) leaving the laymen out of it, by whom and for whom the gospel was given. While I do not argue that the gospel is not meant for only those with greater education and intellect, even Christ taught in parables that were difficult for many to understand (Matthew 13:10-13).

There is no doctrinal stone left unblemished in Rauschenbusch’s theology. Beginning with the doctrine of original sin, he questions every “orthodox” teaching of theology. He calls the fall of man “a remote event” (38) and claims that the fall is emphasized more in later theology than even in Jewish thought. He also claims that Jesus and the prophets paid no attention to the fall and were “able to see sin clearly and to fight it with the highest energy without depending on the doctrine of the fall for a footing” (41). He diminishes the letters of Paul by declaring the fall of man to be less important because it is not discussed thoroughly before Paul’s letters. In this sense, Rauschenbusch again chooses which parts of the Bible to fully embrace.

With regard to the doctrine of sin, Rauschenbusch emphasizes personal responsibility (33), which is certainly a Biblical concept, but only as much as it affects society as a whole. However, he criticizes Christian religion for being overly concerned with poor theology and under concerned with their sin
Show More

Related Documents: Theology for the Social Gospel: a Book Review Essay

Critical Thinking And Sanctification Essay

noetic effects of sin and then identifies key biblical passages to derive a rationale for noetic sanctification through CT as it is defined in Section 2. Finally, Section 4 applies CT concepts to noetic sanctification as a Christian discipline. A Brief Review of the CT Literature The discipline of CT is a much-debated topic in a number of academic disciplines, but three main areas have devoted a large amount of literature to the topic. Philosophy, psychology, and education have extensive amounts of literature…

Words 9466 - Pages 38

christian theology final paper

touching a patient may not constitute as spiritual care. These behaviors, however, grounded in a nurse’s spiritual philosophy of life such take on the element of ministry; they constitute the nurse’s theology of caring (O’Brien, 2014). Megan, a Nurse Practitioner in Community Health said in O’Brien’s book that when she is nursing, she feels like she is ministering to the person. As Christians we need to take care of the sick, when we care for them, we are in fact caring for the Lord (p. 87, 2014). In…

Words 3684 - Pages 15

AP EURO Notes Essay

Some villages disappeared completely because everyone had died Signs of disintegration were everywhere although often out of disintegration comes fertile ground for rebirth which many historians call the rennisanse a time of troubles: black death and social crisis famine and population Europe entered a little ice age Bad weather with bad storms and constant rain led to widespread famine and hunger In northern Europe It destroyed the harvests and caused serious food shortages called great famine of 1315…

Words 6409 - Pages 26

Department of English Spring 2014 Course Descriptions Essays

In particular, we will attend to the ethics of representation, asking who is assigned the roles of hero, villain, and victim in the works we study, and why the writers and film directors have made the choices they do. The arguments made by these books and films are part of evolving conversation about the nature of organized violence, and our task will be to account for these shifts in perspective. In order to do so, we will have to attend not only to the technological innovations that have so…

Words 9501 - Pages 39