{"id":86,"date":"2008-12-18T06:33:55","date_gmt":"2008-12-18T06:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comments-of-the-day.html"},"modified":"2008-12-18T06:33:55","modified_gmt":"2008-12-18T06:33:55","slug":"comments-of-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comments-of-the-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Comment(s) of the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, color me astonished.  Mega-commenter A Walker<\/b> shows us all that he’s not just a one-trick (SSM) pony.  He’s not only familiar with Walter Rauschenbush, but he favorably quotes the social gospeler in response to my Rick Warren post<\/a> of yesterday.  AW also seems to be a preterist<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I’ve read two of Walter Rauschenbusch’s books, and he rightly
\nrecognized that the gospel applies to how we save our society as well
\nas how we save our souls. (Both are covered in the pages of the bible,
\nand they are closely linked. And, It’s only Marxism when charity
\nbecomes State-owned and operated—there’s no virtue in helping the
\npoor with someone else’s confiscated money.)<\/p>\n

“We have taken the hopeful position that our entire social order,
\nwith all its terrible immoralities, is neverthess woven through with
\nChristian elements, which form the basis of its further regeneration.
\nThe same thing is true of our economic order. With all their bitter
\ncruelty and wrong our factories are the cells out of which a
\nchristianized industry must be evolved. Even now business men are
\npublic servants in embryo. They pride themselves on the community
\nservice they are rendering, and many a one of them would serve
\nadmirably as Bishop of the Church of Holy Industry, if he had half a
\nchance to put his Christian good will into action.” (From
\n“Christianizing the Social Order” – Walter Rauschenbusch, p.237 — ,
\nNew York, The Macmillan Company, 1919 )<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

One of W. Rauschenbusch’s most useful observations has to do with
\nhow Evangelicalism’s perpetual “sky is falling” refrain works against
\nit’s own mission. He writes:<\/p>\n

“The social gospel seeks to develop the vision of the Church toward
\nthe future and co-operate with the will of God which is shaping the
\ndestinies of humanity. It would be aided and reinforced by a modern and
\ntruly Christian conception about the future of mankind. At present no
\nother theological influence so hampers and obstructs the social gospel
\nas that of eschatology. All considerations taken from the life of the
\ntwentieth century cry out for something like the social gospel; but the
\nideas of the first century contained in eschatology are used to veto
\nit. Those who have trained their religious thinking on the Hebrew
\nprophets and the genuine teachings of Jesus are for the social gospel;
\nthose who have trained it on apocalyptic ideas are against it. This is
\nall the more pathetic because the pre-millennial scheme is really an
\noutline of the social salvation of the race. Those who hold it exhibit
\nreal interest in social and political events. But, they are best
\npleased when they see humanity defeated and collapsing, for then the
\nsalvation is nigh. Active work for the salvation of the social
\norder…is not only vain but against the will of God. Thus [futurist]
\neschatology defeats the Christian imperative of righteousness and
\nsalvation.” (From Theology for the Social Gospel – Walter
\nRauschenbusch, p. 210-211,– New York, The Macmillan Company, 1918 )<\/p>\n

He’s absolutely correct, and he wrote that in 1918. Could have been written today.<\/p>\n

Most evangelicals seem unaware that the primary application of
\neschatology pertained to the first century end of the Old Testamental
\nage. Sites like preteristvision.org<\/a> and preteristarchive.com<\/a> do a nice
\njob of showing how eschatology applied primarily to the apostles’
\ngeneration, with a focus on the Roman Imperial Cult and the dissolution
\nof the Old Covenant world, religion, and state at AD 70. Imminence
\npertained to them, not to us. The current age may have hundreds of
\nthousands of years to go, if not more. That changes the perspective of
\nwhat Christians are to be doing somewhat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, color me astonished.  Mega-commenter A Walker shows us all that he’s not just a one-trick (SSM) pony.  He’s not only familiar with Walter Rauschenbush, but he favorably quotes the social gospeler in response to my Rick Warren post of yesterday.  AW also seems to be a preterist: I’ve read two of Walter Rauschenbusch’s books,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment-of-the-day","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nComment(s) of the Day - The New Christians<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comments-of-the-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comment(s) of the Day - 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