CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM: ONE PERSON'S PERSPECTIVE
The first socialists, referring to the movement originating in the 19th century, were not all Christians, it goes without saying, but there were socialists among the first Christians. Witness Acts 2:44,45: "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need." This doesn't say much about their political work, but the sections revealing their resistance to the claims of empire are still inspiring.
In my own branch of the Christian community, the Anglican Communion (The Episcopal Church, Church of England, etc.), the roots of socialism are deep and strong. The novelist-parson Charles Kingsley was attracted to and began teaching and proclaiming the ideas and ideals of the French socialists. F. D. Maurice was the first theorist of the movement as it took shape. They called it "Christian socialism," and their disciples were, and are, legion. A socialist group in the Church has never organized on a worldwide basis--our branch of the Christian community is relaxed in terms of organization and has rather fluid boundaries, but our contemporary guru is Kenneth Leech, M. B. Reckitt Urban Fellow at St. Botolph's Church, Aldgate, London and every other year a visitor to these shores.
We do our politics on the basis of this pretty standard socialist principle: the community shall ultimately own the means of production collectively and use them co-operatively for the good of all. The underlying assumptions of this principle for the Christian seem to include such ideas as these:
> The creative God as author of all that is, seen and unseen, including the human race,
> The common sisterhood and brotherhood of all human beings, as a consequence,
> The identification of God with humanity in Jesus Christ,
> The kingdom, as in "thy kingdom come," as the supreme objective,
> The church, or the Jesus community, indwelt by the Holy Spirit and taught
by Mary and the saints, as the instrument of the kingdom, and
> The divine purpose as not only thesalvation of individuals but also the
redemption of the social order, that is, the impossibility of individual redemption
while the environment of the individual remains polluted byinhuman conditions.
Further, we seek to preserve the balance between (a) the need for individual and group freedom and initiative, on the one hand, and the authority of the community in civil and industrial life, and in the life of the church, on the other, (b) personal and common ownership to encourage initiative in fellowship, (c) national independence and international interdependence, in which there is no room for nationalism or empire, (d) and most of us advocate pacifism in all circumstances, resorting only finally to the use of force, for persuasion is the first weapon, and violence the last, in the Christian armory.
We say that great room is to be made for the practice and enjoyment of the arts and sport alongside the struggle for social justice, which, while a serious, need never be a grim affair. We pay great attention to tradition, the mature conviction of the ages, while making the swift decitions needed for the present. And we see Christian socialism as the contemporary expression of the engaged humane catholicism of twenty-one centuries of the Christian movement with roots in the Hebrew prophetic movement and affinities with all persons of good will in every age.
We do our politics in practical fashion variously. Most of us today are members of political groupings of the left and some version of base community study groups. Many of us find the clearest contemporary expression of our beliefs in the phrasings of what is called "liberation theology," the Third World's great gift to the Church. Of course, we are also members of local peace and justice groups, Planned Parenthood boards, gay and lesbian support groups, "community solutions" organizations, and meals programs, and the like.
Dennis Wienk
Rector, St. Thomas' Church
PO Box 366
122 Liberty Street
Bath NY 14810
607-776-4503
email: kerouacy@ptd.net |