GLADDEN, SOLOMON WASHINGTON
(11 February 1836, Pottsgrove, PA-2 July 1918, Columbus, OH). Education: Attended Owego Academy, 1855-56; B.A. Williams College, 1959. Career: Minister, Brooklyn, NY, 1860-61; minister, Morrisania, NY, 1861-66; minister, North Adams, MA, 1866-71; minister, Springfield, MA, 1875-82; minister, First
Congregational Church, Columbus, OH, 1882-1914 (minister-emeritus, 1914- 18); moderator, National Council of Congregational Churches, 1904-1907.
Washington Gladden was not the first Congregationalist to apply Christian principals to social problems. In their own way John Winthrop·, Cotton Mather* , and other early Puritans held attitudes that later came to be known as the Social Gospel. Congregationalists were, after all, devoted from the start to building a society in "the suburbs of heaven." Gladden was less an innovator than a spokesman for the golden rule in the age of industrialization. Like Horace Bushnell·, whose views he defended, he favored a "practical gospel," directed towards social problems. "It is doubtful," he wrote, "whether any individual can have an adequate idea of his relationship to God except as he learns it in the fulfillment of his relations to his fellow men."
Gladden published more than thirty books and many articles during his lifetime and was widely read in England and America. His writing was less theological than practical, but he did publish several books about contemporary biblical criticism. Despite Gladden's devotion to the Social Gospel, he was usually conciliatory in promoting his views. He opposed socialism, preferring to Christianize the existing social order. "The law of love," he argued, "governs the whole of life." He was capable, however, of a dramatic gesture in pursuit of his ideals. In 1905, for example, he condemned the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions for accepting a $100,000 contribution from the president of Standard Oil. "Tainted money" he called it.
Gladden's popularity and influence was apparent in 1904 when he was chosen moderator of the National Council of Congregational Churches. His equable temperament as well as his liberal faith is suggested by his comfortable description of the Christian's relationship to Christ: "Those who have trusted him have found him the kindest, the truest, the dearest of friends."
Bibliography
A: Plain Thoughts on the Art of Living (Boston, 1869); Working People and Their Employers (Boston, 1876); Applied Christianity: Moral Aspects of Social Questions (New York, 1886); Who Wrote the Bible? (Boston, 1891); Social Salvation (Boston, 1902); Where Does the Sky Begin? (Boston, 1904); The Church in Modern Life (New York, 1908); Recollections (Boston, 1909).
B: DAB 7,325-27; DARB, 175-76; NCAB 10, 256; NYT 3 July 1918, 13; SH 4, 492-9Jacob Henry Dom, Washington Gladden: Prophet of the Social Gospel (Columbus, Ohio, 1966); Richard D. Knudten, The Systematic Thoughl of Washington Gladden (New York, 1968); George C. Fry, "Washington Gladden: First Citizen of Columbus," Ohio History, 73 (1964), 90-99; John M. Mulder, "The Heavenly City and Human Cities: Washington Gladden and Urban Reform," Ohio History, 87 (1978), 151-74.
Congregational Church, Columbus, OH, 1882-1914 (minister-emeritus, 1914- 18); moderator, National Council of Congregational Churches, 1904-1907.
Washington Gladden was not the first Congregationalist to apply Christian principals to social problems. In their own way John Winthrop·, Cotton Mather* , and other early Puritans held attitudes that later came to be known as the Social Gospel. Congregationalists were, after all, devoted from the start to building a society in "the suburbs of heaven." Gladden was less an innovator than a spokesman for the golden rule in the age of industrialization. Like Horace Bushnell·, whose views he defended, he favored a "practical gospel," directed towards social problems. "It is doubtful," he wrote, "whether any individual can have an adequate idea of his relationship to God except as he learns it in the fulfillment of his relations to his fellow men."
Gladden published more than thirty books and many articles during his lifetime and was widely read in England and America. His writing was less theological than practical, but he did publish several books about contemporary biblical criticism. Despite Gladden's devotion to the Social Gospel, he was usually conciliatory in promoting his views. He opposed socialism, preferring to Christianize the existing social order. "The law of love," he argued, "governs the whole of life." He was capable, however, of a dramatic gesture in pursuit of his ideals. In 1905, for example, he condemned the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions for accepting a $100,000 contribution from the president of Standard Oil. "Tainted money" he called it.
Gladden's popularity and influence was apparent in 1904 when he was chosen moderator of the National Council of Congregational Churches. His equable temperament as well as his liberal faith is suggested by his comfortable description of the Christian's relationship to Christ: "Those who have trusted him have found him the kindest, the truest, the dearest of friends."
Bibliography
A: Plain Thoughts on the Art of Living (Boston, 1869); Working People and Their Employers (Boston, 1876); Applied Christianity: Moral Aspects of Social Questions (New York, 1886); Who Wrote the Bible? (Boston, 1891); Social Salvation (Boston, 1902); Where Does the Sky Begin? (Boston, 1904); The Church in Modern Life (New York, 1908); Recollections (Boston, 1909).
B: DAB 7,325-27; DARB, 175-76; NCAB 10, 256; NYT 3 July 1918, 13; SH 4, 492-9Jacob Henry Dom, Washington Gladden: Prophet of the Social Gospel (Columbus, Ohio, 1966); Richard D. Knudten, The Systematic Thoughl of Washington Gladden (New York, 1968); George C. Fry, "Washington Gladden: First Citizen of Columbus," Ohio History, 73 (1964), 90-99; John M. Mulder, "The Heavenly City and Human Cities: Washington Gladden and Urban Reform," Ohio History, 87 (1978), 151-74.
