The Social Principles Of Jesus - Softcover

Rauschenbusch, Walter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1517720834 ISBN 13: 9781517720834

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015

Synopsis

Commemorative Centennial edition.

“We have to harmonize the two facts, that wealth is good and necessary, and that wealth is a danger to its possessor and to society. On the one hand property is indispensable to personal freedom, to all higher individuality, and to self-realization; the right to property is a corollary of the right to life; without property men are at the mercy of nature and in bondage to those who have property. On the other hand property is used as a means of collecting tribute and private taxes, as a club with which to extort unearned gain from laborers and consumers, and as the fundamental tool of oppression.”

It is said that Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) was "the leading spokesman for the theology of the Social Gospel in American Protestantism" (from the introduction by Pelikan, 586). Although a Baptist minister, Rauschenbusch apparently rejected biblical literalism in favor of historical criticism-a method of biblical analysis that originated in Rauschenbusch's fatherland in the first half of the nineteenth century. This method, quite popular even today, allowed Rauschenbusch to see the Gospel through the prism of the contemporary understanding of history, which in the age of social revolutions was dominated by the struggles of the lower classes. In a series of books and essays, Rauschenbusch applied principles he believed were found in the Gospel as calls for social reform that continue to ring true for many modern Christian theologians. In "The Social Principles of Jesus," Rauschenbusch's last essay published in 1918, the author attempted to use his reading of the Gospel as a foundation for social philosophy.

First published in 1916, two years before his death, The Social Principles of Jesus became Rauschenbusch's most widely distributed book. Written as a study guide at a time when the great Christian and social optimism of the early 20th Century was sorely challenged by the devastation of the Great War being waged around the globe. Relevant then, and now, this work teaches that the Christian response to the city should be realizing the Kingdom of God in society by working toward greater compassion, justice, and redemptive love.

Contents

Introduction Part I. The Axiomatic Social Convictions Of Jesus Chapter I. The Value Of Life Chapter II. The Solidarity Of The Human Family Chapter III. Standing With The People Part II. The Social Ideal Of Jesus Chapter IV. The Kingdom Of God: Its Values Chapter V. The Kingdom Of God: Its Tasks Chapter VI. A New Age And New Standards Part III. The Recalcitrant Social Forces Chapter VII. Leadership For Service Chapter VIII. Private Property And The Common Good Chapter IX. The Social Test Of Religion Part IV. Conquest By Conflict Chapter X. The Conflict With Evil Chapter XI. The Cross As A Social Principle Chapter XII. A Review And A Challenge Footnotes

About this title

About the Author

Walter Rauschenbusch was a Christian theologian and Baptist minister in the early 1900's. While a pastor at New York City's Second Baptist Church in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, Rauschenbusch became a key figure in the Social Gospel movement, which emphasizes that social concern, compassion, and justice work should be an integral part in the life of the Church and the Christian individual. Today, his theology and work is still alive in many Christian-based social ministries, such as Rauschenbusch Metro Ministires in New York, founded in 1995 and named after the influential theologian.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1517720834
• ISBN 13: 9781517720834
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 260