Walter Rauschenbusch and Dwight L. Moody
Education and Early Ministry
Walter Rauschenbusch was born on October 4, 1861 in Rochester, New York. Rauschenbusch was raised in an extremely strict Christian environment. Rauschenbuschs father, August was a German immigrant and when Walter was getting ready to go off to college his dad sent him to go to the German Gymnasium (German version of college) because he felt that a German education was superior to an American one. After graduating college in Germany Walter went on to study at the University of Rochester and Rochester Theological Seminary. Rauschenbusch then became a pastorate at a German Baptist church in Louisville in the summer for three months. It is at this time that Rauschenbusch stated,"It is now no longer my found hope to be a learned theologian and write big books; I want to be a pastor, powerful with men, preaching to them Christ as the man in whom their affections and energies can find the satisfaction for which mankind is groaning."
Ministry
Rauschenbusch began his ministry on June 1, 1886 at the Second German Baptist Church in Hell's Kitchen, New York. Hell's Kitchen was and still has one of the highest poverty and crime rate. It was here that Rauschenbusch discovered the poverty, sickness, malnutrition, violence that those who resided to Hell's Kitchen endured. The things that Rauschenbusch witnessed in at this time caused him to change his theology, his sermons began to preach of God's love and the necessity of living a Christlike life. Rauschenbusch ideas began to revolve around two things, the social conditions of the congregants of his church, and the spiritual conditions of his church. After returning home to NY after a sabbatical to Germany, Rauschenbusch began to establish neighborhood projects. This was also the time that the Brotherhood of the Kingdom was created by Rauschenbusch, which was a group of mostly ministers who were trying cause a social transformation in American society. The creation of the Brotherhood of the Kingdom eventually led to Rauschenbusch joining/ forming the Social Gospel movement. The Social Gospel movement was formed by primarily Protestant clergymen who felt that all social and physical problems were rooted in poverty and that poverty was the result of the Capitalism in the US.
The Social Gospel
The Social Social Gospel movement was formed by primarily Protestant clergymen who felt that all social and physical problems were rooted in poverty and that poverty was the result of the Capitalism in the US. Rauschenbusch supported certain aspects of the Social Gospel movement, mostly ones relating to social justice and US capitalism. The theology of the Social Gospel movement was that uncontrolled capitalism in the US kept men and women in poverty no matter how hard they worked to get out of it, and that this poverty was the cause of man's sin. That is why those who supported the Social Gospel movement also supported bigger governments and increased labor rights.
Walter Rauschenbusch was born on October 4, 1861 in Rochester, New York. Rauschenbusch was raised in an extremely strict Christian environment. Rauschenbuschs father, August was a German immigrant and when Walter was getting ready to go off to college his dad sent him to go to the German Gymnasium (German version of college) because he felt that a German education was superior to an American one. After graduating college in Germany Walter went on to study at the University of Rochester and Rochester Theological Seminary. Rauschenbusch then became a pastorate at a German Baptist church in Louisville in the summer for three months. It is at this time that Rauschenbusch stated,"It is now no longer my found hope to be a learned theologian and write big books; I want to be a pastor, powerful with men, preaching to them Christ as the man in whom their affections and energies can find the satisfaction for which mankind is groaning."
Ministry
Rauschenbusch began his ministry on June 1, 1886 at the Second German Baptist Church in Hell's Kitchen, New York. Hell's Kitchen was and still has one of the highest poverty and crime rate. It was here that Rauschenbusch discovered the poverty, sickness, malnutrition, violence that those who resided to Hell's Kitchen endured. The things that Rauschenbusch witnessed in at this time caused him to change his theology, his sermons began to preach of God's love and the necessity of living a Christlike life. Rauschenbusch ideas began to revolve around two things, the social conditions of the congregants of his church, and the spiritual conditions of his church. After returning home to NY after a sabbatical to Germany, Rauschenbusch began to establish neighborhood projects. This was also the time that the Brotherhood of the Kingdom was created by Rauschenbusch, which was a group of mostly ministers who were trying cause a social transformation in American society. The creation of the Brotherhood of the Kingdom eventually led to Rauschenbusch joining/ forming the Social Gospel movement. The Social Gospel movement was formed by primarily Protestant clergymen who felt that all social and physical problems were rooted in poverty and that poverty was the result of the Capitalism in the US.
The Social Gospel
The Social Social Gospel movement was formed by primarily Protestant clergymen who felt that all social and physical problems were rooted in poverty and that poverty was the result of the Capitalism in the US. Rauschenbusch supported certain aspects of the Social Gospel movement, mostly ones relating to social justice and US capitalism. The theology of the Social Gospel movement was that uncontrolled capitalism in the US kept men and women in poverty no matter how hard they worked to get out of it, and that this poverty was the cause of man's sin. That is why those who supported the Social Gospel movement also supported bigger governments and increased labor rights.
