J. Russell Chandran related his reflections on the basis for
a Christian social vision to the unifying «bond of love» which carried the same meanings as Rauschenbusch half a world and eighty years removed.
J. Russell Chandran, «Biblical and Theological Basis for
a Christian Social Vision» Religion and Society (June - Sept), No. 2 and 3, p. 67.
The goal of
the Christian social vision is, therefore, a society in which all people [are]... committed to work together for the common well - being of all and for the removal of all forms of injustice and divisiveness, united by the bond of love for the realization of the one new humanity.33
Not exact matches
In Resurrecting the Idea of a
Christian Society, my new book appearing on August 1, I draw these strands together into a sustained argument for a
Christian vision of moral and
social renewal.
Henry argued that fundamentalists did not present Christianity as a worldview, with a distinctive
social vision, but chose to concentrate on personal conversion, only one aspect of the
Christian proclamation.
Inspired by the New Testament's
vision of human community, they argued that Christianity is a fundamentally
social movement, and the job of theology is to purify the
Christian tradition of its interest in heaven above.
The prophetic note in the metaphor should allay that anxiety, for it points to the
vision of
social justice that maturing in the
Christian life entails.
But the fact remains that generations of youth were energized by what they experienced as a new
vision of what it means to be a
Christian, that the mainline Protestant churches formed ecumenical organizations to work together to implement the new
vision, and that, finally, in the depression, many of their practical proposals for
social reform were implemented.
This renewal requires a commitment to fundamental values within a framework of belief - in this case
Christian faith - that is in dialogue with other frameworks.49 From a similar perspective, Robin Gill sees the primary function of the church in society as that of generating «key values which alter the fundamental moral,
social, and political
vision.»
But the sermon is the most consistent and public statement of the
Christian vision and thus plays a crucial role in the
social life of the community.
In 1975 there appeared in Germany a book entitled: The Berlin Ecumenical Manifesto, on the Utopian
Vision of the World Council of Churches, edited by Walter Kunneth and Peter Beyerhaus.34 The book attacked not only the World Council of Churches but also the Lutheran World Federation, World Student
Christian Federation, certain Roman Catholic groups, the German Evangelical Kirchentag, Taize, and to some extent even Lausanne.35 According to H. Berkof, the common thread through all the articles in the book was the desire to demonstrate that the World Council of Churches no longer sought to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world, but strove rather for a purely horizontal,
social and political, humanization and unification of mankind by means of religious pluralism and syncretism.
The notion of the people, i.e.Minjung, and of small - scale movements and initiatives which represent them, is from the
Christian point of view partly a socio - ecclesial
vision in the sense of a theological appraisal of the church as
social reality in the larger body politic, and partly eschatology in the sense of a
vision of the ends worked out within, and ends which extend beyond, human history.
Only a few examples of the attempt to link values with the arts and sciences have been published (see, for example, A
Vision for India Tomorrow: Explorations in
Social Ethics, edited by J. Daniel and R. Gopalan [Madras Christian College, 1984]-RRB- But already evident is a sense of social conscience linked to economic development; a theology of vocation that replaces the ascriptive caste definitions of occupation; a theistically based universalism conducive to science and human rights; and a modernizing, cosmopolitan outlook in a land where the sacredness of the cow signals both the power of tradition and a preference for the agrarian
Social Ethics, edited by J. Daniel and R. Gopalan [Madras
Christian College, 1984]-RRB- But already evident is a sense of
social conscience linked to economic development; a theology of vocation that replaces the ascriptive caste definitions of occupation; a theistically based universalism conducive to science and human rights; and a modernizing, cosmopolitan outlook in a land where the sacredness of the cow signals both the power of tradition and a preference for the agrarian
social conscience linked to economic development; a theology of vocation that replaces the ascriptive caste definitions of occupation; a theistically based universalism conducive to science and human rights; and a modernizing, cosmopolitan outlook in a land where the sacredness of the cow signals both the power of tradition and a preference for the agrarian life.
But it does seem that a debate — between those who interpret
Christian social thought in a
social - democratic idiom and those whose idiom is that of the Austrian School of economics — would go a long way toward establishing a richer
vision of Catholic
social thought.
After all, the team - oriented focus of hospice — in which doctors, nurses, chaplains and
social workers join forces together in caring for dying persons and their families — draws its animating
vision from the
Christian tradition.