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A masterful, careful, and encyclopedic history of Christian social ethics--from the social gospel to Christian realism to liberationist theologies and beyond. It is simply the definitive history of Christian social ethics in the US--a must-read for scholars, students, and practitioners alike. (Choice) In this magnificent, sprawling and monumental book, Gary Dorrien maps the origins and development of Christian social ethics in the U.S. by making an insightful analysis of its three major traditions and numerous alternatives. Social Ethics in the Making will soon be recognized as a classic. It is a captivating, expertly written and exhaustively researched pilgrimage through the changing landscape of Christian social ethics. (The Christian Century)
Table of Contents
Plates x
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction 1
1. Inventing Social Ethics: Francis Greenwood Peabody, William Jewett Tucker, and Graham Taylor 6
Becoming Francis Greenwood Peabody 7
Philosophies of Moral Philosophy 10
Beyond Moral Philosophy: Social Ethics 15
The Social Question, William Jewett Tucker, and Liberal Theology 20
Jesus and the Social Question 25
Up from Slavery: The Race Problem in the Social Question 29
Retreating to the Seminaries 32
Getting Peabody Right 35
Christian Sociology: Graham Taylor 36
The Social Gospel in the Classroom and Public Square 44
2. The Social Gospel: Washington Gladden, Josiah Strong, Walter Rauschenbusch, and Harry F. Ward 60
Good Theology and the Social Good: Washington Gladden 61
The Social Gospel Difference and the Challenge of Darwinism 69
Manifest Destiny and the Crucible of Race: Fiske, Gladden, and Josiah Strong 73
The Great War and the Social Gospel 79
The Socialist Kingdom of God: Walter Rauschenbusch 83
Asking the Social Question 87
The Kingdom as Political Theology 89
German America and the Wider Kingdom 92
The Social Crisis and the Social Gospel 94
The Social Gospel Ascending 97
Christianizing the American Order 99
The Great War and the Social Gospel 104
Social Christianity and Radical Reconstruction: Harry F. Ward 109
Ward, Reinhold Niebuhr, and the Soviet Spirit 120
3. Lift Every Voice: Reverdy C. Ransom, Jane Addams, and John A. Ryan 146
Becoming Reverdy C. Ransom 147
Mainstreaming the Black Social Gospel 158
Fostering Democratic Citizenship: Jane Addams 168
Democracy, Social Ethics, and Pragmatism 175
Social Doctrine in Action: John A. Ryan 185
Mainstreaming the Catholic Social Gospel 199
4. Christian Realism: Reinhold Niebuhr, H. Richard Niebuhr, John C. Bennett, and Paul Ramsey 226
Becoming Reinhold Niebuhr 226
Rejecting Social Gospel Idealism 236
H. Richard Niebuhr, Liberal Religion, and Radical Monotheism 239
Christian Realism as Socialist Faith 244
Niebuhrian Realism, World War II, and the Cold War 259
The Niebuhrian Method and Legacy 271
Making Sense of Niebuhrian Realism: John C. Bennett and Paul Ramsey 276
A New Liberal Consensus? 287
5. Social Christianity as Public Theology: Walter G. Muelder, James Luther Adams, John Courtney Murray, and Dorothy Day 305
Socializing Personalist Theory: Walter G. Muelder 306
Moral Theory, Culture, and Christian Social Ethics 316
Personalism against the Current 320
James Luther Adams and Unitarian Christianity 324
Rethinking Religious Freedom and Pluralism: John Courtney Murray 334
The American Idea and the Catholic Presence 349
Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement 361
6. Liberationist Disruptions: Martin Luther King Jr, James H. Cone, Mary Daly, and Beverly W. Harrison 390
Martin Luther King Jr and the Beloved Community 391
James H. Cone and Black Liberation Theology 396
Beyond Patriarchal Religion: Mary Daly and the Rebirth of Feminism 411
Christian Feminist Liberation Ethics: Beverly W. Harrison 421
7. Disputing and Expanding the Tradition: Carl F. H. Henry, John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, Michael Novak, and Jim Wallis 447
Carl F. H. Henry and the New Evangelicalism 448
John Howard Yoder and the Politics of Jesus 460
Thinking Christian Pacifism Through: Stanley M. Hauerwas 474
Ideological Americanism: The Neoconservative Reaction 488
Michael Novak and Democratic Capitalism 489
Interrogating Liberation Theology and the Catholic Bishops 503
Progressive Evangelicalism: Jim Wallis 512
8. Dealing with Modernity and Postmodernity: Charles Curran, James M. Gustafson, Gibson Winter, Cornel West, Katie G. Cannon, and Victor Anderson 533
Moral Theology and the Curran Controversy 534
Naturalistic Theocentrism: James M. Gustafson 544
Elements for a Social Ethic: Gibson Winter 549
Prophetic Public Criticism: Cornel West 563
Womanist Ethics: Katie Geneva Cannon 584
Taking Postmodernity Seriously: Victor Anderson 592
9. Economy, Sexuality, Ecology, Difference: Max L. Stackhouse, Dennis P. McCann, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Marvin M. Ellison, John B. Cobb, Jr, Larry Rasmussen, Daniel C. Maguire, Sharon Welch, Emilie M. Townes, Ada María Isasi-Díaz, María Pilar Aquino, and David Hollenbach 611
Capitalist Apologetics as Public Theology: Max Stackhouse and Dennis McCann 612
Right Ordering and Sexual Difference 616
Lisa Sowle Cahill: Sources, Norms, and Moral Reasoning 618
Marvin M. Ellison: Sexual Justice 621
Debating Economic Democracy 624
Ecology as Political Economics and Theology 626
Eco-Justice for the Sake of Everything: Larry Rasmussen and Daniel C. Maguire 630
Sharon Welch: Toward an Ethic of Risk and Conflict 637
Emilie Townes: Womanism and the Cultural Production of Evil 640
Latina Feminisms: Ada María Isasi-Díaz and María Pilar Aquino 646
Human Rights and Catholic Social Ethics: David Hollenbach 657
10. Borders of Possibility: The Necessity of “Discredited” Social Gospel Ideas 674
Social Ethics and Racial Justice 677
Foreign Policy Realism and American Empire 680
Economic Democracy: The Future of a Discredited Vision 683
Index 692
