Salvation and the 'Social Gospel'

Taking its lead from the various essays on Christian salvation that appeared in The Fundamentals (1910–15), this chapter argues that fundamentalists often reserved their sharpest criticisms for those who questioned the substitutionary nature of Christ’s sacrifice. Closely related was their opposition to the ‘social gospel’ which supposed societal transformation to be the main goal of Christian witness. Yet resistance to the social dimension of liberal Christianity did not mean that they ignored social action entirely. The chapter argues that while some fundamentalists continued to stress personal regeneration, others attempted to navigate a middle way, developing a place, albeit often a subordinate one, for issues of social justice. However, the fear that a pre-occupation with social issues would compromise the simple gospel message remained ever present, and became a fault line between fundamentalists and the wider evangelical movement.