A thread on Spurgeon and social justice...
1/ I’ve seen a number of tweets speculating about CHS's views on social justice. I’m actually about to complete my dissertation on this topic from @SEBTS. Spurgeon’s views are hard to summarize, but a few things can be clearly affirmed,
1/ I’ve seen a number of tweets speculating about CHS's views on social justice. I’m actually about to complete my dissertation on this topic from @SEBTS. Spurgeon’s views are hard to summarize, but a few things can be clearly affirmed,
2/ Number One: Spurgeon was an outspoken advocate for the disenfranchised, the poor, and the oppressed of his day. For most of the Victorian era there was no system of social welfare, and therefore care for the needy usually fell to personal charity or organized philanthropy.
3/ Thus Spurgeon led his church in pioneering dozens and dozens of benevolent ministries to reach the needy of his community in London. He founded ministries to help widows and orphans, prostitutes, police, the blind, the illiterate and uneducated, etc.
4/ Number Two: Spurgeon was outspoken in his opposition to the Christian socialist movement of the latter nineteenth century. In fact, the Baptist John Clifford, Spurgeon’s foremost sparring partner in the Downgrade Controversy went on to become an advocate of Christian socialism
5/ Spurgeon repudiated socialism and believed a preoccupation with seeking to address the world’s needs through large scale social and structural reforms was mostly futile.
6/ Number Three: Though Spurgeon seldom spoke to political issues in the pulpit and warned his students against doing so, he was willing to speak to such issues in other forms, such as his famous monthly magazine, The Sword and the Trowel.
7/ His commentary on political issues was generally limited to matters that touched upon religious concerns such as the disestablishment of the state of church, the question of Irish Home Rule, and slavery in the American South.
8/ He encouraged his members to vote, and was open about his allegiance to the Liberal Party (NOT to be confused with the Dem. party in America today. The platform for the Liberal Party in Britain in the 19th century was completely different from that of the Dem. party today.)
9/ Number Four: Spurgeon’s theory of social reform (if it could even be called a “theory”) was profoundly individualistic. He did not believe the world would ultimately be changed by the reform of social schemes and policies.
10/ He believed the world would be changed as individual people came to faith in Jesus Christ and then began to live in accord with God’s law. His activism was profoundly individualistic.
11/ My take as a Spurgeon scholar - Spurgeon would grieve racial injustices today while cautioning evangelicals against over politicizing current cultural events and placing too much confidence in social reform via the state.
12/ I am an historian commenting on an historical figure. This thread is not indicative of my personal views one way or the other. I think we need to labor to understand Spurgeon in his own context and not weaponize him for a debate he never lived through or anticipated.
