Social Principles of Jesus

First published in 1916, two years before his death, The Social Principles of Jesus became Rauschenbusch’s most widely distributed book. The book was originally written as a study guide at a time when the great Christian and social optimism of the early 20th Century was sorely challenged by the devastation of the Great War being waged around the globe. Relevant then, and now, this work teaches that the Christian response to the city should be realizing the Kingdom of God in society by working toward greater compassion, justice, and redemptive love. Author bio: Walter Rauschenbusch was a Christian theologian and Baptist minister in the early 1900’s. While a pastor at New York City’s Second Baptist Church in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, Rauschenbusch became a key figure in the Social Gospel movement, which emphasizes that social concern, compassion, and justice work should be an integral part in the life of the Church and the Christian individual. Today, his theology and work is still alive in many Christian-based social ministries, such as Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries in New York, founded in 1995 and named after the influential theologian.