The Christian Pulpit And Social Problems -- By: R. B. Kuiper

Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 02:1 (Nov 1939)
Article: The Christian Pulpit And Social Problems
Author: R. B. Kuiper


The Christian Pulpit And Social Problems

R. B. Kuiper

AN individual gospel and a social gospel are to the minds of many related antithetically. It is thought rather generally that the former is characteristic of orthodoxy, the latter distinctively modernist, and that no preacher can with consistency proclaim both.

It would seem to be worth while to examine this opinion with some care in order to determine whether or not it is tenable. Such a study will of necessity include a consideration of various current views on the proper attitude of the Christian pulpit to social problems. These views will have to be evaluated. Evaluation presupposes a norm. We take as our norm the historic Christian faith founded upon the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the very Word of God and formulated in the great doctrines of the Christian Church, particularly of the churches of the Reformation.

I. The Social Gospel of Liberalism

Walter Rauschenbusch’s Christianity and the Social Crisis was published in 1907. That was an event which might almost be described as epoch-making. It gave a powerful impetus to the thinking of churchmen on the relation of the Christian message to the problems of society. There followed a veritable flood of books dealing with that topic. Today the flood is running high. Among the latest works on the subject is D. C. Macintosh’s Social Christianity, but one hesitates to call it or any book the very latest for fear that before one finishes speaking its successor may have come from the press.

From its beginning the movement just described was dominated by liberals. Coupled with that fact is another of great significance. Fundamentalism, particularly American fundamentalism, is largely dispensational. By that is meant that

a great many fundamentalists are certain that there will be no restoration of society until the arrival of what they call the kingdom age, that all present efforts in that direction are foredoomed to dismal failure, and that consequently the Christian has no duty in this regard. What else could be expected than that fundamentalist preachers would leave social problems severely alone? With few exceptions they actually do this. On the other hand, the liberal Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America has adopted a Social Creed and announced as its purpose, “to transform society in accordance with Christian ethical ideals”. Thus it has come to pass that liberalism has achieved a virtual monopoly of social preaching. The term social gospel has not only acquired a definitely liberal connotation, but it is no exaggeration to affirm that the social gospel as it is actually being preached is by and la...

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