The social gospel in British Columbia : social reform as a dimension of religion, 1900-1920
Date
1974
Authors
Mosher, Sheila Patricia
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Abstract
The social gospel which attracted much church interest during the first two decades of the twentieth century was the Protestant expression of widespread reform sentiment. Much of the content of the social gospel was derived from other reform movement&, but unlike them, its essential. conception was religious, rather than social or political.
Social gospellers in British Columbia were a minority group although in the Presbyterian and Methodist churches they achieved great influence. Before the First World War their efforts were largely ignored by the Anglicans, the largest denomination in the province, as well as by the non-church-going segment of the population. During the war they attracted a much greater degree of public attention, particularly through the prohibition campaign and their attacks on government corruption. The end of the war brought -greatest official. church support for social gospel ideas. The failure, at this time, to find-effective means to transform ideas into actions resulted in a diminishing interest in social reform as a task for the church.
Social gospel ideas arrived in British Columbia with immigrant ministers from Britain and eastern Canada and were reinforced by contacts with American churches. Although not an indigenous movement, the expression of social gospel ideas was shaped by the experience of life in the developing province and reflected not only British Columbians' hopes of a bright future but also the tensions of existing discords. Much church interest in the social gospel was motivated by anxieties over the nature of contemporary society and the changing role of the church within it.
The existence in the province of radical labour and militant Marxist groups emphasized for social gospellers the necessity of a Christian reform of society, both to bring nearer the ideal Kingdom of God and to prevent a violent, destructive, and anti-Christian revolution by the discontented and oppressed. Fearful that extremist elements, such as the Marxists, would seize the leadership of the reform movement, unless the church acted, social gospellers insisted that reform must be spiritual as well as material, that only a religiously inspired reform of society could be successful.
Although social gospellers preached the need for fundamental social reconstruction, it is misleading to interpret the social gospel in British Columbia as a radical socialist movement. Changes in the goals and motivations of men rather than changes in law and social structures were their primary concern, Even the denunciation of profits was a condemnation of profits as the motive of all business life rather than a condemnation of private enterprise as a system. Individual redemption through, evangelism was the favoured approach to social reform. While some social gospellers did advocate a form of socialism, the majority remained moralists, not socialists. '!heir use of a radical rhetoric masked an essential conservatism.
This thesis looks at the social gospel in British Columbia during the early years of its development and the critical years of the First World War and attempts to determine the nature of its ideas, motivations, goals, and achievements. Inspired by faith in the coming of God's Kingdom, social gospellers believed that the church must provide leadership in the Christianization of society. Despite disagreements over choice of means and the definition of goals, they were united in their vision of social reform as a dimension of religion. Unable to solve the problem of means, the social gospel in British Columbia remained largely rhetoric without result.