Reading Rauschenbusch

Last updated on: June 8, 2011 at 8:03 am by Tim Suttle

Reading Rauschenbusch 2011-06-08T08:03:00-06:00 Tim Suttle

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One of the original ideas for the book An Evangelical Social Gospel? was rooted in my reading of A Theology for the Social Gospel by Walter Rauschenbusch. Walter Rauschenbusch was a Baptist minister who led a church of poor German immigrants living in Hell’s Kitchen a little over a century ago. This was a bad time to live in Hell’s Kitchen (if you’ve ever seen the Martin Scorsese movie “Gangs of New York,” this movie was set in the neighboring Five Points area. Scorsese portrays that time in American history very well, especially the working conditions and economic hardship. Hell’s Kitchen was similar to Five Points, only with German immigrants). Violence, crime, disease, poverty, and overcrowding were the norm as multiple families crammed into crowded tenement buildings. Children were especially vulnerable and many of them died. Rauschenbusch often lamented how often he had to preside over the funerals of the children of poverty. All the while America’s upper crust lived the high life in upper Manhattan.

Rauschenbusch came to New York to preach the gospel “in the usual sense.” By this he meant he preached a typical evangelical message about salvation through Christ. He soon realized that his message had little impact. The gospel, in his mind, had been completely individualized. Most people – himself included – had been taught to think the gospel was only something private and personal having to do with the eternal destiny of the soul. But those who converted to this gospel still had to live a life that was unlivable. Rauschenbusch became acutely aware the gospel he shared was not good news to his congregation in Hell’s Kitchen. Especially when you consider that most of their bosses, whose business practices were so predatory and abusive that every state in the union and the federal government eventually acted to curb them, called themselves Christians and attended church. The gospel these barons of the gilded age were converted to did not require them to love their neighbor, nor did it require them to act justly toward the poor.

When I picked up Rauschenbusch’s book, I expected to dismiss everything I read as failed Protestant Liberalism. Rauschenbusch was an old-school German Protestant Liberal. All that means is that he was attempting to think about how science, psychology, evolution, etc., could harmonize with the Christian story. Liberalism (not to be confused with American Democratic Party), has often been rightly critiqued for having jettisoned any belief in the supernatural. It became very difficult to be a liberal and still believe in miracles. That makes it hard to believe in things like the incarnation, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Pretty much all that was left was his moral teaching. Rauschenbusch was a liberal to be sure. But he never left behind the Baptist message of trust in Jesus. His ideas about Jesus were to some degree flawed – yet his trust in Jesus was resolute. I could not simply dismiss his theology as failed. In fact, I realized I had much to learn from this great pastor.

Hopefully I’ve piqued your interest in learning more about Walter Rauschenbusch and how his thinking might impact our faith. If so – you can read more about him in An Evangelical Social Gospel?

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