Abstract
In 1896, Congregational minister Charles M. Sheldon wrote the seminal social gospel novel In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do. What began as an attempt to inspire college students in Topeka, Kansas became a national bestseller that continued to inspire millions long after its initial publication. Historians and literary critics disagree about the literary merit and historical significance of both Sheldon and his most famous novel. Much of this debate concentrates on the relative sophistication and originality of Sheldon’s prose as well as the degree of liberal or conservative influences in the text. In the process, historians and literary critics set Sheldon apart from other social gospelers as a direct result of his popularity. This paper intends to further scholarship by placing Sheldon in conversation with other social gospel thinkers rather than distinguishing him as a “popular” figure. In doing so, historical understanding of social gospel movements can broaden to include figures like Sheldon and places like Kansas. The historiography of the social gospel currently stifles a movement that was more fluid than is typically considered. By bringing Sheldon fully into the social gospel movement, the historiography can maintain its urban, industrial, and intellectual core while also allowing for less acknowledged areas of the social gospel movement like frontier, rural, and middle-brow reformers and reform movements. Furthermore, Sheldon provides the best perspective on social gospel history and historiography because the phrase and concept driving In His Steps mainstreamed the social gospel. To avoid the popularity of In His Steps or the centrality of “What would Jesus do?” to the social gospel ignores the heart of the social gospel movement.
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