Christianizing the Social Order is Walter Rauschenbusch's most comprehensive study of the relationship between Christianity and social reform--most specifically for political and economic justice--and a follow-up to his best-selling Christianity and the Social Crisis. A pioneering work of what became known later in the twentieth century as ""public theology,"" Christianizing the Social Order asks ""How can the fundamental structure of society be conformed to the moral demands of the Christian spirit?"" First published in 1912, the classic work begins describing the social awakening of religious institutions at the time, then moves subject the then-present social order to moral analysis, and, finally, suggests methods of advance. With a message that is still much in need today and now with a new introduction by Christopher H. Evans, contemporary readers may be challenged anew and reflect on the ways Rauschenbusch's legacy relates to the social, political and religious context of our time.
Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) was the major exponent of the Social Gospel movement of the early twentieth century. A pastor to a Baptist congregation of impoverished German immigrants in New York City, he also taught at Rochester Theological Seminary (now Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School).Christopher H. Evans is Professor of History of Christianity and Methodist Studies in the School of Theology, Boston University. He is the author and editor of several books, including, The Faith of Fifty Million (2002), The Social Gospel Today (2001), and Histories of American Christianity (2013). In 2005, The Kingdom is Always but Coming won the ""Award of Merit"" for outstanding title in history/biography in Christianity Today magazine.
Part I The Social Awakening of the Churches 1. The Awakening of the Nation 2. The Response of the Churches 3. Social Conservatism and the Church Part II The Revolutionary Destiny of Christianity 1. Wanted: A Faith for a Task 2. The Social Christianity of Jesus 3. The Eclipse of the Social Ideal 4. The Rebirth of the Social Hope 5. A Religion for Social Redemption 6. Social Christianity and Personal Religion Part III Our Semi-Christian Social Order 1. What do we mean by ""Christianizing"" the Social Order? 2. The Christianized Sections of our Social Order 3. Our Present Economic Order 4. The Law of Tooth and Nail 5. The Last Intrenchment of Autocracy 6. The Reign of the Middleman 7. Under the Law of Profit Part IV The Invasion of God's Country 1. The Moral Values of Capitalism 2. Profit versus Life 3. Commercialism and Beauty 4. The Institutions of Love and their Dangers 5. Private Interests against the Common Good 6. The Tragedy of Dives 7. The Case of Christianity against Capitalism Part V The Direction of Progress 1. The Channel Buoys 2. Justice 3. Property and a Job as Means of Grace 4. Economic Democracy 5. The Economic Basis for Fraternity 6. Quod Semper, Quod Ubique, Quod Ab Omnibus 7. ""The Powers of the Coming Age"" Part VI The Methods of Advance 1. The Pace of Advance 2. The Conservation of Life 3. The Socializing of Property 4. Community Life and Public Spirit 5. The Rise of the Working Class 6. The Revival of Religion and the Conversion of the Strong Index
