This is the first significant book-length biography in over 50 years of Washington Gladden, a minister, journalist, and reformer whose message of religious liberalism came to define modern Protestantism in the United States. Although largely forgotten today, Gladden was one of the most well-known pastors of his time and a leader of the social gospel and progressive movement. Mislin chronicles Gladden's early years bristling against the culture of a pious small town in upstate New York, his personal and family struggles during the Civil War, and his eventual professional success that came by providing a religious message for a society struggling with skepticism about organized religion, massive economic inequality, rampant corporate malfeasance, and widespread racial and religious bigotry. Through this book, Gladden's life emerges as both a model for the fusion of progressive political, social, and religious commitments, as well as a cautionary tale of the potential perils for those who critique society from inside elite institutions.
David Mislin, Assistant Professor in the Intellectual Heritage Program at Temple University, is the author of Saving Faith: Making Religious Pluralism an American Value at the Dawn of the Secular Age (Cornell, 2015) and a contributor to The Lively Experiment: Religious Toleration in America from Roger Williams to the Present (R&L 2015).
Preface vii Acknowledgments xiii 1 Observer 1 2 Survivor 21 3 Rebel 41 4 Journalist 61 5 Pastor 85 6 Reformer 105 7 Unifier 129 8 Critic 151 Afterword 173 Notes 175 Index 203 About the Author 211
David Mislin provides a much-needed, and long overdue, study of the life and thought of Washington Gladden. A critical figure in the emergence of theological liberalism and a pioneer in the development of the social gospel movement, Gladden's story has too often been overlooked by scholars. In an engaging book, Mislin fleshes out the evolution of Gladden's thought, while discussing the numerous contours of his extensive career as a minister, journalist, theologian, and reformer. Mislin not only demonstrates Gladden's impact upon his era, but suggests how Gladden laid a foundation for today's Religious Left. Anyone interested in U.S. religious history, history of American Protestantism, or religion and social reform will enjoy reading this important book. -- Christopher Evans, Professor of the History of Christianity and Methodist Studies, Boston University David Mislin provides a much-needed, and long overdue, study of the life and thought of Washington Gladden. A critical figure in the emergence of theological liberalism and a pioneer in the development of the social gospel movement, Gladden's story has too often been overlooked by scholars. In an engaging book, Mislin fleshes out the evolution of Gladden's thought, while discussing the numerous contours of his extensive career as a minister, journalist, theologian, and reformer. Mislin not only demonstrates Gladden's impact upon his era, but suggests how Gladden laid a foundation for today's Religious Left. Anyone interested in U.S. religious history, history of American Protestantism, or religion and social reform will enjoy reading this important book. -- Christopher Evans, Professor of the History of Christianity and Methodist Studies, Boston University Never heard of Washington Gladden? Read this book. You will be gripped by the deftly-told story of one of industrial America's towering reformers, a pioneering social gospel minister who was, in so many ways, also a flawed human being. We have a lot to learn from both Gladden's achievements and failures, and in these pages Mislin distills his legacies with unusual wisdom and grace. -- Heath W. Carter, associate professor of American Christianity, Princeton Theological Seminary Never heard of Washington Gladden? Read this book. You will be gripped by the deftly-told story of one of industrial America's towering reformers, a pioneering social gospel minister who was, in so many ways, also a flawed human being. We have a lot to learn from both Gladden's achievements and failures, and in these pages Mislin distills his legacies with unusual wisdom and grace. -- Heath W. Carter, associate professor of American Christianity, Princeton Theological Seminary Readers from many backgrounds, from professional historians to the historically curious, will thoroughly enjoy David Mislin's timely, accessible biography of an important and complicated man. Mislin shows us Washington Gladden from all sides, a generous, thoughtful soul with a flawed but compelling vision of Christian unity and social redemption. -- Margaret Bendroth, Executive Director, Congregational Library & Archives
