Social Ethics in the Making

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In the early 1880s, proponents of what came to be called "the social gospel" founded what came to be called "social ethics." This book describes the tradition of social ethics, a tradition that began with the distinctly modern idea that Christianity has a social-ethical mission to transform the structures of society in the direction of social justice. This book describes the founding and development of social ethics as a discourse in the realms of the academy, church, and general public. It analyzes the three major traditions of social ethics, explains revisions and offshoots of these traditions, interprets evangelical and neoconservative alternatives, and delineates the various confessional and cultural standpoints from which religious thinkers have construed the social meaning of Christianity, all in a narrative fashion. Nearly from the beginning "social ethics" named a specific academic field and a way of thinking about Christian ethics that transcended the academy. This book pays attention to both meanings, featuring prominent academic voices and important exponents of social Christianity who had little or no relation to the social ethics guild. In the latter category, pastors and movement activists are prominent, on the other hand, after the book enters the postmodern era, the academics prevail almost without exception. In contemporary social ethics, even self-described "public intellectuals" and "public theologians" are academics. The book is written engagingly, as befits the fascinating story that it has to tell, and is designed for students studying social ethics and Christian ethics.