The Study Of Rauschenbusch’s View Of Social Gospel

Walter Rauschenbusch(1861-1918)was a 19th-century Baptist minister,protestant christian theologian and the leader of the social evangelical movement.Rauschenbusch lives in a time when America’s industrial revolution is in full swing.Along with the rapid development of social economy,social problems such as unemployment,economic imbalance,social injustice,government corruption,and the widening gap between the rich and poor also come into being.This attracted the attention of a group of protestant progressives,represented by Rauschenbusch,who tried to solve the problems facing the society based on the Christian doctrine,but the traditional theory of individual salvation of Christianity was unable to provide effective answers.So Rauschenbusch returned to the study of the bible and nurtured his ideas of social Gospel.Rauschenbusch’s social Gospel thoughts with the bible as the basis of its ideological theory,at the same time it also learnt the traditional Christian theology,and marxist theory of Darwin’s theory of evolution,and that christians and social organic combination,emphasized the social crime,social salvation and social ideal of the kingdom of the god and the church’s social role,etc.The core of Rauschenbusch’s social Gospel is the social ideal of the kingdom of god,that is,the ultimate goal of Jesus Christ’s salvation is the reign of god’s love and justice on earth and the establishment and realization of the holy social order of the kingdom of god on earth.Based on his belief in the kingdom of god,Rauschenbusch reinterpreted Christian teachings on sin,redemption and the role of the church.Rauschenbusch’s social Gospel emphasizes the sin and the sin of human society as a whole,and emphasizes that the nature of sin is the expression of human selfishness.His concept of redemption emphasizes the salvation and reconstruction of human social order.His ecclesiastical view emphasizes the restoration of the faith in the kingdom of god as part of the realization of god’s divine social order on earth.Therefore,the church,as a christianized part of human life,should undertake the task of redemption and reconstruction of the unrealized christianized part of human society.The highest purpose of the church is also to serve as an executive toolto realize the kingdom of god and the inheritor of the Christian spirit and faith.Rauschenbusch’s social Gospel thought and social practice had a lasting and far-reaching impact on his time and even the future generations.His social Gospel enriched and developed Christian theology.At the same time,under the guidance of social Gospel thought,Rauschenbusch and his followers,aiming many social problems at the end of the 19 th century early 20 th century American society,lead to carry out the Social Gospel movement,and a series of social activities,to some extent,improved the social conditions in the United States,has attracted the attention to social reality problem,promote the reform of American society,effectively ease the social contradictions in the United States at that time.