The Idea of Progress in Most Recent American Protestant Thought, 1930–1960

“In hope that sends a shining ray/far down the future's broadening way…” Quoting these lines from a well-known hymn by the Social Gospel pioneer Washington Gladden, Clarence Reidenbach, a Congregationalist minister in Holyoke, Massachusetts, addressed himself late in 1930 to the question of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Church history 1963-03, Vol.32 (1), p.75-89
Main Author: Carter, Paul A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Christian history
Christianity
Humanity
Humans
Progressivism
Protestantism
Theology
War
Western civilization
World wars
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Summary:“In hope that sends a shining ray/far down the future's broadening way…” Quoting these lines from a well-known hymn by the Social Gospel pioneer Washington Gladden, Clarence Reidenbach, a Congregationalist minister in Holyoke, Massachusetts, addressed himself late in 1930 to the question of the meaning of the New Year: “Was Dr. Gladden right? Is life really a broadening way” Or, to put the matter in the language of a classic of intellectual history, is “the idea of progress”—in Professor Bury's words the idea “that civilization has moved, is moving, and will move in a desirable direction”—a valid description of social reality? Reidenbach had no doubt that it was. that it was. “I have at least two great reasons for optimism” that the future is in fact a broadening way, he continued. “One is my confidence in God … the other is that history shows progress.”
ISSN:0009-6407
1755-2613
DOI:10.2307/3162542