Jane Addams's social gospel synthesis and the Catholic response: competing views of charity and their implications.

• Author: Harnish, Brandon
• Position: Report

The turn of the twentieth century was a time of philosophical dislocation. The scientific and philosophical writings of the modern period, which had begun with Descartes and culminated in Nietzsche, threatened the dogma, tradition, and realism of Catholic Christianity. Darwin's theory of evolution had only grown in influence since its publication in 1859, and in many minds it served as the final proof of the supremacy and power of materialistic science. Not unconnected to this development was the Comtian program of social science, which emphasized empirical research, statistics, and an overall imitation of the methods of the physical sciences, all for the purpose of improving people's material condition and thrusting mankind into the "positive stage of history." It followed, then, that education ought not to inculcate truth and doctrine (because science might at any time overturn previously held beliefs) but foster a spirit of change and tolerance so that the "social organism" could adapt and grow as needed. The notion of a political philosophy grounded in natural-law theory fell entirely out of favor. Democracy ceased to be a means for securing individual fights and instead became the ultimate manifestation of society's solving of any and all problems by means of scientific government planning (Woods 2004; Pestritto and Atto 2008).

These changes did not go unnoticed by religious people, and serious efforts were made to confront them. Jane Addams's Twenty Years at Hull-House ([1910] 1998) is regarded as an indispensable primary text among scholars of the Progressive Era, and her article therein, "The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements," originally delivered as a speech in 1892, was one the Progressive movement's most influential documents. Her efforts as part of the Social Gospel movement--the religious wing of the Progressive movement--may be seen as an attempt to synthesize Christianity and modernity. Religious people did not wholly embrace the Social Gospel movement's conclusions, however. The Catholic Church in particular was not as acquiescent to modernity as American Protestants. To begin with, the Social Gospel movement's pragmatism undercut the traditional Christian understanding of metaphysics, natural law, and the capacity of reason to attain objective truth. For those unsatisfied with the Social Gospel, the Catholic Church offered an alternative (Woods 2004).

In this brief article, I begin with Addams's "The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements." I pull out its Progressive ideas, touch on its philosophical origins, and examine its religious values. More specifically, I contrast Addams's Progressive vision, focusing on her conception of social action and charity, with the contemporary Catholic response. I conclude in a more general way, analyzing and evaluating the Social Gospel in light of the contributions made by Catholic intellectuals and other thinkers during the Progressive Era.

Much of Addams's thought followed lock and step from her religious premise that Christianity had gone astray with Saint Paul's emphasis on philosophy, metaphysics, salvation, communion with God, and other spiritual concerns. (1) This view, not at all unique to Addams, followed logically from the Social Gospel synthesis of Christianity with pragmatism and modern sociology. The orthodox Christian conception of a fixed and sinful human nature owing to man's rebellion was out of step with the times. Indeed, to a Progressive, age alone was often enough to discredit an idea.

Instead, much as Darwin held that biological evolution was carrying man toward physical betterment, Social Gospel theologians held that man's nature was fundamentally malleable and subject to beneficial evolutionary changes; it was up to a science of man to carry the burden of social progress. Matters of religious ritual and tradition only served to divert energies better spent in the trenches. As George Marsden describes the situation, "To my mind, the test of a genuine example of the Social Gospel is whether other aspects of Christianity are subordinated to, and in effect incidental to, its social aspects" (1980, 255). Addams expressed this view in her article as she wrote, "That Christianity has to be revealed and embodied in the line of social progress is a corollary to the simple proposition, that man's action is found in his social relationships in the way in which he connects with his fellows; that his motives for action are the zeal and affection with which he regards his fellows" ([1910] 1998, 85). In this way, Addams's notion of religion took on a horizontal focus, with Christianity's principal value flowing from its social and pragmatic potential. Christianity's validity was thereby to be established by its "simple...