Gender and the Social Gospel

Gender and the Social Gospel
Author: Wendy J. Deichmann Edwards
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2003
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780252070976

This collection of essays examines the central, yet often overlooked, role played by women in the formation of the social gospel movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A practical theological response to the stark realities of poverty and injustice prevalent in turn-of-the-century America, the social gospel movement sought to apply the teachings of Jesus and the message of Christian salvation to society by striving to improve the lives of the impoverished and the disenfranchised. The contributors to this volume set out to broaden our understanding of this radical movement by examining the lives of some of its passionate and vibrant female participants and the ways in which their involvement expanded and enriched the scope of its activity. In addition to examining the lives of individual women, the essays in Gender and the Social Gospel contain broader analyses of the gender and racial issues that have caused the histories of movements such as the social gospel to be viewed almost exclusively in terms of their male, European-American, intellectual participants at the expense of the women, African Americans, and Canadians whose contributions were just as worthy of attention.

The Social Gospel Today

The Social Gospel Today
Author: Christopher Hodge Evans
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2001-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780664222529

The contributors explore how the theological tradition of the Social Gospel, born within the social and cultural dislocations of late 19th-century America, relates to the dislocations of the current American scene. The contributors argue that America's only indigenous theological tradition remains powerfully relevant to mainline churches and to the scholars who work out of these institutions.

A New Gospel for Women

A New Gospel for Women
Author: Kristin Kobes Du Mez
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190205644

A work of history, biography, and historical theology, A New Gospel for Women tells the remarkable story of Katharine Bushnell (1855-1946), an internationally-known social reformer and author of God's Word to Women, a startling reinterpretation of the Christian Scriptures that even today stands as one of the most innovative and comprehensive feminist theologies ever written.

The Gospel of the Working Class

The Gospel of the Working Class
Author: Erik S. Gellman
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2011-06-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780252078408

In this exceptional dual biography and cultural history, Erik S. Gellman and Jarod Roll trace the influence of two southern activist preachers, one black and one white, who used their ministry to organize the working class in the 1930s and 1940s across lines of gender, race, and geography. Owen Whitfield and Claude Williams, along with their wives Zella Whitfield and Joyce Williams, drew on their bedrock religious beliefs to stir ordinary men and women to demand social and economic justice in the eras of the Great Depression, New Deal, and Second World War. Williams and Whitfield preached a working-class gospel rooted in the American creed that hard, productive work entitled people to a decent standard of living. Gellman and Roll detail how the two preachers galvanized thousands of farm and industrial workers for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. They also link the activism of the 1930s and 1940s to that of the 1960s and emphasize the central role of the ministers' wives, with whom they established the People's Institute for Applied Religion. This detailed narrative illuminates a cast of characters who became the two couples' closest allies in coordinating a complex network of activists that transcended Jim Crow racial divisions, blurring conventional categories and boundaries to help black and white workers make better lives. In chronicling the shifting contexts of the actions of Whitfield and Williams, The Gospel of the Working Class situates Christian theology within the struggles of some of America's most downtrodden workers, transforming the dominant narratives of the era and offering a fresh view of the promise and instability of religion and civil rights unionism.

Love Thy Body

Love Thy Body
Author: Nancy R. Pearcey
Publisher: Baker Books
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2018-01-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1493412825

Why the call to Love Thy Body? To counter a pervasive hostility toward the body and biology that drives today's headline stories: Transgenderism: Activists detach gender from biology. Kids down to kindergarten are being taught their bodies are irrelevant. Is this affirming--or does it demean the body? Homosexuality: Advocates disconnect sexuality from biological identity. Is this liberating--or does it denigrate biology? Abortion: Supporters deny the fetus is a person, though it is biologically human. Does this mean equality for women--or does it threaten the intrinsic value of all humans? Euthanasia: Those who lack certain cognitive abilities are said to be no longer persons. Is this compassionate--or does it ultimately put everyone at risk? In Love Thy Body, bestselling author Nancy Pearcey goes beyond politically correct slogans with a riveting exposé of the dehumanizing worldview that shapes current watershed moral issues. Pearcey then turns the tables on media boilerplate that misportrays Christianity as harsh or hateful. A former agnostic, she makes a surprising and persuasive case that Christianity is holistic, sustaining the dignity of the body and biology. Throughout she entrances readers with compassionate stories of people wrestling with hard questions in their own lives--their pain, their struggles, their triumphs. "Liberal secularist ideology rests on a mistake and Nancy Pearcey in her terrific new book puts her finger right on it. In embracing abortion, euthanasia, homosexual conduct and relationships, transgenderism, and the like, liberal secularism . . . is philosophically as well as theologically untenable."--Robert P. George, Princeton University "Wonderful guide."--Sam Allberry, author, Is God Anti-Gay? "A must-read."--Rosaria Butterfield, former professor, Syracuse University; author, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert "An astute but accessible analysis of the intellectual roots of the most important moral ills facing us today: abortion, euthanasia, and redefining the family."--Richard Weikart, California State University, Stanislaus "Highly readable, insightful, and informative."--Mary Poplin, Claremont Graduate University; author, Is Reality Secular? "Unmasks the far-reaching practical consequences of mind-body dualism better than anyone I have ever seen."--Jennifer Roback Morse, founder and president, The Ruth Institute "Love Thy Body richly enhances the treasure box that is Pearcey's collective work."--Glenn T. Stanton, Focus on the Family "Essential reading . . . Love Thy Body brings clarity and understanding to the multitude of complex and confusing views in discussions about love and sexuality."--Becky Norton Dunlop, Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow, The Heritage Foundation "Pearcey gets straight to the issue of our day: What makes humans valuable in the first place? You must get this book. Don't just read it. Master it."--Scott Klusendorf, president, Life Training Institute

St. Mark's and the Social Gospel

St. Mark's and the Social Gospel
Author: Ellen Blue
Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2011-12-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1572338245

The impact of St. Mark’s Community Center and United Methodist Church on the city of New Orleans is immense. Their stories are dramatic reflections of the times. But these stories are more than mere reflections because St. Mark’s changed the picture, leading the way into different understandings of what urban diversity could and should mean. This book looks at the contributions of St. Mark’s, in particular the important role played by women (especially deaconesses) as the church confronted social issues through the rise of the social gospel movement and into the modern civil rights era. Ellen Blue uses St. Mark’s as a microcosm to tell a larger, overlooked story about women in the Methodist Church and the sources of reform. One of the few volumes on women’s history within the church, this book challenges the dominant narrative of the social gospel movement and its past. St. Mark’s and the Social Gospel begins by examining the period between 1895 and World War I, chronicling the center’s development from its early beginnings as a settlement house that served immigrants and documenting the early social gospel activities of Methodist women in New Orleans. Part II explores the efforts of subsequent generations of women to further gender and racial equality between the 1920s and 1960. Major topics addressed in this section include an examination of the deaconesses’ training in Christian Socialist economic theory and the church’s response to the Brown decision. The third part focuses on the church’s direct involvement in the school desegregation crisis of 1960 , including an account of the pastor who broke the white boycott of a desegregated elementary school by taking his daughter back to class there. Part IV offers a brief look at the history of St. Mark’s since 1965. Shedding new light on an often neglected subject, St. Mark’s and the Social Gospel will be welcomed by scholars of religious history, local history, social history, and women’s studies.

Gender Ideology

Gender Ideology
Author: Sharon James
Publisher: Christian Focus
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781527104815

Equipping Christians to deal with transgenderism Defines and explains the subject Rebuts issues with the Christian worldview

The Social Gospel in American Religion

The Social Gospel in American Religion
Author: Christopher H. Evans
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2017-04-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1479869538

A remarkable history of the powerful and influential social gospel movement. The global crises of child labor, alcoholism and poverty were all brought to our attention through the social gospel movement. Its impact on American society makes it one of the most influential developments in American religious history. Christopher H. Evans traces the development of the social gospel in American Protestantism, and illustrates how the religious idealism of the movement also rose up within Judaism and Catholicism. Contrary to the works of previous historians, Evans demonstrates how the presence of the social gospel continued in American culture long after its alleged demise following World War I. Evans reveals the many aspects of the social gospel and their influence on a range of social movements during the twentieth century, culminating with the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. It also explores the relationship between the liberal social gospel of the early twentieth century and later iterations of social reform in late twentieth century evangelicalism. The Social Gospel in American Religion considers an impressive array of historical figures including Washington Gladden, Emil Hirsch, Frances Willard, Reverdy Ransom, Walter Rauschenbusch, Stephen Wise, John Ryan, Harry Emerson Fosdick, A.J. Muste, Georgia Harkness, and Benjamin Mays. It demonstrates how these figures contributed to the shape of the social gospel in America, while arguing that the movement’s legacy lies in its profound influence on broader traditions of liberal-progressive political reform in American history.

Intersex in Christ

Intersex in Christ
Author: Jennifer Anne Cox
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2018-07-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498244017

Intersex is an umbrella term for many different conditions that cause ambiguous sexual biology. Intersex people are "in between," neither clearly male nor clearly female. Intersex has been largely hidden through surgery and secrecy, but is now coming out into the open. Many intersex people have experienced physical, psychological, and relational pain because of the shame attached to their bodily difference. The existence of people with unusual sexual biology presents a challenge to the Christian ideal of humanity as male and female. How can evangelical Christians rightly respond to this phenomenon? Intersex in Christ provides a balance of grace and truth, upholding male and female as God's created intent, while insisting that there is a positive place in the kingdom of God and the world for people with unusual sexual biology. Intersex people are created in the image of God, because of the love of God. Jesus accepts, loves, and dignifies intersex people. The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for all people, however sexed. An evangelical response to intersex will therefore be one of acceptance, love, justice, and inclusion. Intersex in Christ will help both intersex Christians and the church to understand intersex through the lens of Christ.