Rauschenbusch, Walter

A leading figure in the Social Gospel Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918) was born on October 4, 1861, in Rochester, New York. The son of German immigrant parents—his father a Lutheran missionary who later became American Baptist—Rauschenbusch graduated from the University of Rochester in 1884 and Rochester Theological Seminary in 1886.

Upon his seminary graduation, Rauschenbusch accepted a call as pastor of the Second German Baptist Church, on the edge of the Hell's Kitchen district of New York. As he lived and worked among the poor and the working class, Rauschenbusch became convinced that Christianity's historic message of individual salvation was insufficient to address the deep needs of his parishioners. Rather, he concluded, the church could only be faithful if it were active in the world, meeting human need not only through acts of individual charity but also by addressing the root causes of poverty and social [Page 650]injustice. While a pastor, Rauschenbusch worked with Jacob Riis and others in advocating for improved housing in the area and for more playgrounds for the children. The 11 years he spent in New York City (1886 to 1897), and the human misery that surrounded him there, exerted a powerful influence over the remainder of Rauschenbusch's career as a professor and scholar.

In 1897, Rauschenbusch joined the faculty of Rochester Seminary, serving for five years in the German department (that is, courses taught in German for German-speaking pastors) before moving in 1902 to become professor of church history in the English department. During his years at Rochester, Rauschenbusch wrote the books that articulated all that he had learned while in Hell's Kitchen. The first major work, Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), most clearly articulates his social theory and presents his reflections on capitalism, the Industrial Revolution, private property, and their unintended consequences, and on lies—that the poor are at fault for their lack of money and that all immigrants are corrupt, to name a few.

This seminal volume was followed by Christianizing the Social Order (1912), in which Rauschenbusch prescribed reforms for the American capitalist system; and his best-known work, A Theology for the Social Gospel (1917), which reinterprets traditional doctrine in light of the social gospel and lays out a systematic theology of social Christianity.

In part because of his German heritage, Rauschenbusch initially opposed U.S. entry into World War I. Later, as U.S. involvement became inevitable, he shifted his focus toward considering how the social gospel might provide a framework for postwar reconstruction and reconciliation. Sadly, he did not live even to see the war's end, succumbing to cancer on July 25, 1918, at the age of 56.