Rauschenbusch denies that Jesus was “meek and mild.” His Jesus is energetic and active in establishing a new social order—the church—and teaching his followers who will make up the church how it should be organized (according to love) so that it can show the world God’s will for humanity, including its social organization. Rauschenbusch believed that Christianity holds the values that culture and society need and, in his time, he could assume that the vast majority of his readers and listeners thought they were Christians and that America was implicitly if not officially a “Christian nation.” However, he believed that America’s social order needed redemption (not revolution). It’s clear to me that the writers view Garfield through the “lens” of the Social Gospel—as a precursor in politics of the Social Gospel.
Author: Roger E. Olson
Published at: 2025-11-09 22:30:09
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