Social Gospel Liberalism and the Ministry of Ernest Fremont Tittle

Using Ernest Tittle's life as a biographical prism, this volume provides insights into the development of post-World War I Methodism. Within Tittle's theology are the seeds for the social idealism that has had an ongoing impact upon 20th-century American culture.

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Tittle, minister of First Methodist church, Evanston, Illinois, was among the prominent representatives of the post World War 1 social gospel movement. This study analyzes how Tittle's theology and social reform, based on racial justice, economic equality, and pacifism, was influenced by the upper middle class context of First Church, Evanston. Using Tittle's life as a biographical prism, the volume provides insights into the development of post World War 1 Methodism. It explores how Tittle adapted the leadership paradigm of the social gospel preacher as the primary means to define and articulate his theology for the middle class. Using research in church history, biography, theology, and social history the text shows how Tittle's cultural and theological world view interpenetrated with his congregation to produce a genre of liberal idealism. Within Tittle's theology are the seeds for the social idealism that has had an ongoing impact upon 20th century American culture, notably evident in the thought of Martin Luther King Jr.