Study Questions
Christopher H. Evans
The Social Gospel in American Religion: A History
- How does the author define the Social Gospel? What four themes will run
through the book? What does the author include in his book that typical
accounts of the Social Gospel do not?
- What were the antebellum Protestant roots of the Social Gospel? How and
why did the Social Gospel emerge after the Civil War? Identify Washington
Gladden and explain his significance. Who was Frances Willard? How did women
participate in the Social Gospel? What was distinctive about African
American social Christianity?
- How did the question "What would Jesus do?" reflect Social Gospel
concerns? Describe Christian socialism. How were American Protestants
influenced by German ideas? Identify Emil Hirsch and describe Jewish
interest in social questions. How did the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum
affect American Catholics? (An encyclical is an important teaching
document. Popes release them now and then on important questions.)
- Identify Walter Rauschenbusch. What important book did he write?
Describe his ideas about the coming of the Kingdom. How did Harry Ward
influence the Methodist Church? Who was Stephen Wise and what were his
ideas? How did John Ryan's ideas influence the Catholic Church? Why was Vida
Scudder significant?
-
What was the Federal Council of Churches and how did it help spread the
Social Gospel? Why did Social Gospel advocates support the First World War?
What were the YMCA and YWCA? Describe their role in advocating the Social
Gospel. Explain the role of Rauschenbusch's A Theology for the Social
Gospel in creating a postwar religious left. How did the Red Scare and
fear of Bolshevism affect the postwar Social Gospel?
-
Describe the impact of World War I on the Social Gospel. Identify the
Fellowship of Reconciliation. Identify Norman Thomas. Identify Harry Emerson
Fosdick, Riverside Church, and Christian Century and their
significance in the 1920s. How did Social Gospel advocates react to the
Great Depression? Who was Reinhold Niebuhr and what were his cricitisms of
the Social Gospel? How did nonviolent internationalism affect leaders like
A.J. Muste?
-
What were Howard Thurman's and Benjamin Mays's take on the Social Gospel,
from African Americans' viewpoint? How did the concerns of the Federal
Council of Churches lead to the establishment of the World Council of
Churches after World War II? How did the rise of Communism and the Cold War
affect Social Gospel ecumenicists? How did Social Gospel thinking impact
Martin Luther King, Jr.? How did the Vietnam War signal the end of the
influence of the National Council of Churches and the Social Gospel?
-
Why does the author think that a chapter on conservative evangelicals
belongs in a book about the Social Gospel? Identify Francis Schaeffer. How
did he influence conservative Protestants? How did the example of Martin
Luther King inspire people like Ralph Reed and his Christian Coalition?
Describe manifestations of the conservative resurgence within mainline
denominations like the Methodists. Describe how progressive evangelicals see
the Social Gospel tradition. What does the author mean when he says that the
Social Gospel stands at a crossroads in the twenty-first century?
-
What does the author see as the legacies of the Social Gospel movement?
Last updated:
Thursday, November 02, 2017 09:39 PM