The Labour Church was an organization intended to give expression to the religion of the labour movement. [1] It had a Christian socialist outlook, specifically called theological socialism. [2] [3]
The first Labour Church was founded at Manchester in October 1891 by a Unitarian minister, John Trevor. [1] [3] Five principles were adopted. The service included the Lord's Prayer, hymns social in character, readings from Whitman, Emerson, Lamennais, Lowell, Whittier, Ruskin, Carlyle, and Maurice, and an address. In 1892 the Labour Prophet was started, and the Labour Hymn Book and tracts were published. [4] It asserted that "improvement of social conditions and the development of personal character are both essential to emancipation from social and moral bondage, and to that end insists upon the duty of studying the economic and moral forces of society." [1]
Soon the Church expanded to other towns including Birmingham, Bradford, Bolton, Leeds, London, Nottingham, Oldham, Plymouth and Wolverhampton. In July 1893, a Labour Church Union of 14 churches and 31 congregations was organized. [3] In December 1893 the first Labour Church in the United States was opened in Essex County, Massachusetts. [3] By the next November there were 24 churches. [4] Some of these churches were formed in a direct response to another church, or church minister, in the town promoting liberal views. Within five years of the first Labour Church there were over 50. The Labour Churches were at that time attracting between 300 and 500 members to each congregation. The peak of the Labour Church in Britain was reached in 1895 with 54 congregations. [3] In 1896 a Labour Church was founded in Australia at Melbourne by Archibald Turnbull, [5] as well as a Socialist Church, based on the Labour Churches, being opened in New Zealand at Christchurch. [3] By 1897 there were at least 4 Labour Churches in Massachusetts. [3]
After John Trevor left in 1900, the Labour Church began to decline. At the annual conference of 1909, held in Ashton-under-Lyne, the name "Labour Church" was changed to "Socialist Church". [1] However, by the beginning of World War I the recently renamed Church had disappeared.
Hosea Ballou D.D. was an American Universalist clergyman and theological writer.
Émile Justin Louis Combes was a French statesman and freemason who led the Lefts Bloc cabinet from June 1902 to January 1905.
Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe capitalism to be idolatrous and rooted in the sin of greed. Christian socialists identify the cause of social inequality to be the greed that they associate with capitalism. Christian socialism became a major movement in the United Kingdom beginning in the 19th century. The Christian Socialist Movement, known as Christians on the Left since 2013, is one formal group, as well as a faction of the Labour Party.
William Garden Blaikie FRSE was a Scottish minister, writer, biographer, and temperance reformer.
Henry William Crosskey was an English Unitarian minister and geologist.
The United Presbyterian Church (1847–1900) was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination. It was formed in 1847 by the union of the United Secession Church and the Relief Church, and in 1900 merged with the Free Church of Scotland to form the United Free Church of Scotland, which in turn united with the Church of Scotland in 1929. For most of its existence the United Presbyterian Church was the third largest Presbyterian Church in Scotland, and stood on the liberal wing of Scots Presbyterianism. The Church's name was often abbreviated to the initials U.P.
John Brown was a Scottish minister and theologian, known for his exegesis as a preacher.
Edwards Amasa Park was an American Congregational theologian.
Austin Phelps, was an American Congregational minister and educator. He was for 10 years President of the Andover Theological Seminary and his writings became standard textbooks for Christian theological education and remain in print today.
The Evangelical Union was a 19th-century religious denomination which originated in the suspension of the Rev. James Morison, minister of a presbyterian United Secession congregation in Kilmarnock, Scotland, for certain views regarding faith, the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation, and the extent of the atonement, which were regarded by the supreme court of his church as anti-Calvinistic and heretical. It professed a creed which allowed them greater freedom as preachers of the Gospel.
Charles Monroe Sheldon was an American Congregationalist minister and a leader of the Social Gospel movement. His novel In His Steps introduced the principle "What would Jesus do?", which articulated an approach to Christian theology that became popular at the turn of the 20th century and enjoyed a revival almost one hundred years later. The stretch of US-24 on the north side of Topeka, Kansas, between US-75 and K-4 is named the "Charles Sheldon Trafficway" in his honor.
Roswell Dwight Hitchcock was a United States Congregationalist clergyman.
Andrew Martin Fairbairn, FBA was a Scottish theological scholar, born near Edinburgh.
Charles William StubbsDD was an English clergyman.
Dogmatic theology, also called dogmatics, is the part of theology dealing with the theoretical truths of faith concerning God and God's works, especially the official theology recognized by an organized Church body, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Dutch Reformed Church, etc. At times, apologetics or fundamental theology is called "general dogmatic theology", dogmatic theology proper being distinguished from it as "special dogmatic theology". In present-day use, however, apologetics is no longer treated as part of dogmatic theology but has attained the rank of an independent science, being generally regarded as the introduction to and foundation of dogmatic theology.
Church Congress is an annual meeting of members of the Church of England, lay and clerical, to discuss matters religious, moral or social, in which the church is interested. It has no legislative authority, and there is no voting on the questions discussed.
Percy Stickney Grant (1860–1927) was an American Episcopal priest.
Joseph Tuckerman was a United States clergyman and philanthropist.
Mary Traffarn Whitney was an American minister and editor, as well as a social reformer, philanthropist and lecturer. She was one of the early Universalist women ministers, later changing her association to that of the Unitarian church. Whitney was the author of Honor between men and women (1896), FamilyCulture, the Science of Human Life (1897), Present Tendencies in Racial Improvement (1897), Hymns of Peace (1915), and Problems for seniors by a senior (1932).
Andrew Symington, was a Scottish minister and teacher. He was ordained in 1809. In 1820 he was appointed professor of theology in the Reformed Presbyterian church.