Christian socialism

Christian socialism term used in Great Britain and the United States for a kind of socialism growing out of the clash between Christian ideals and the effects of competitive business. In Europe, it usually refers to a party or trade union directed by religious leaders in contrast to socialist unions and parties. The movement was begun in England in 1848, after the failure of Chartism . Influenced by Carlyle, Southey, Coleridge, and the Fourierists, rather than by Marx, such men as John Ludlow, Frederick Denison Maurice , and Charles Kingsley sought to encourage the laboring masses and the church to cooperate against capitalism. They published periodicals and tracts, promoted workingmen's associations, founded (1854) a workingmen's college, and helped achieve some general reforms. Though their experiments in producers' cooperation failed, their traditions were carried on by the Fabian Society, by adherents of guild socialism, and by several Roman Catholic groups. The movement in the United States was organized with the formation (1889) of the Society of Christian Socialists, although there had been earlier activity by Washington Gladden , Richard Theodore Ely , and others.

Bibliography: See C. E. Raven, Christian Socialism, 1848-1854 (1920, repr. 1968); J. C. Cort, Christian Socialism (1988).

Christian Socialism. A 19th-cent. movement for social reform initiated by members of the C of E. The first phase, beginning in 1848, was an attempt to counter Chartism within the working classes by providing an alternative Christian social critique; the second, from 1877, was more political and aimed to permeate the Church with social radicalism. The establishment of the Working Men's College in 1854 was the work of F. D. Maurice. Other leaders were J. M. F. Ludlow, C. Kingsley, and Thomas Hughes.