the "Social Gospel"--100 years later

Christianity Without Salvation: The legacy of the "Social Gospel"--100 years later

Excerpts:

Distorted ideas about heaven and hell have spawned great mischief in the name of Christianity, of course. Rauschenbusch must have seen plenty of it during a decade of ministry in New York City's "Hell's Kitchen" neighborhood. Indeed, the Christianity of his youth looked unfit to cope with the "industrial crises" of his day. Nevertheless, he seemed blithely unaware of others provoked by the very conceptions of sin and salvation he so despised--men such as William Wilberforce, John Wesley, John Jay, Lyman Beecher and William Booth--to champion reform efforts of all kinds.

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It is hard to see, though, how Rauschenbusch's theology could be called Christian in any meaningful sense of the term. It required no repentance or atonement and carried no fear of judgment or bracing hope of eternal life. He famously denied the doctrine of Christ's Second Coming--with its promise of perfect justice and enduring mercy.

Wiki: Walter Rauschenbusch

Excerpt:

Walter Rauschenbusch (October 4, 1861 - July 25, 1918) was a Christian Theologian and Baptist Minister. He was a key figure in the Social Gospel movement in the USA.

Comment: A "gospel" that does not redeem and transform the human soul is no Gospel at all!

1 Corinthians 15:1-3 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures ...