Christianity
Edwin Abbott: The Christian Religion—Social Love
Abstract
© Dr M D Magee
Contents Updated: Monday, 18 October 2010
Edwin Abbott
The Reverend Edwin A Abbott, DD in the nineteenth century already noted that Christ was above all a social reformer:
The very simplicity of the basis which Christ laid as the foundation for his future society has blinded some persons to the obvious fact, that he was the greatest social reformer that ever lived.
He observed that Christ did not urge his followers to spend their entire lives merely contemplating God, but spoke constantly social matters using the image of the Kingdom of God as his model.
Had [Christ] been bent upon founding a sect of hermits, he might have been expected to encourage the rigid observance of Sabbaths, fastings, purifications, and the like, all of which, by fixing the thoughts on the Divine Author of these institutions, might be supposed to foster contemplation and solitary worship. But Jesus rejected them because they were unsociable, and because they hampered the free and healthy intercourse between man and man.
There is not one of his precepts that does not directly or indirectly point to a future organisation of society, and that does not make war against the principles that would disorganise society. All this he so takes for granted that he does not think it worth while to say in so many words, “I intend to reform social life”, but the constant mention of the Kingdom of God and of the Father in Heaven bears witness to the social aspect in which he always regarded mankind.
Moreover, he offered his own life and teaching to be used as examples of how it should be done:
In every point it might be shown that the life and teaching of Jesus was intended to supply the links necessary, just at that crisis in the history of the world, to reunite and reorganise a society that was on the point of falling to pieces.
Worship of Might is not the Right Worship
The Reverend Abbot pointed out that when Christ came into the world, the Roman empire had just been established under Octavian who had taken the imperial title “Augustus”, meaning “Venerable” because he thought he was the son of a god. He was the adopted son of Julius Caesar who had been deified. So, the Romans and their subjects were worshipping imperial power as the emperor:
Now the worship of might is a sure forerunner and cause of the decay and disorganisation of society. It is a religion of conquerors, not the religion of a peaceful society. Against the worship of might, therefore, Jesus set up the worship of a Righteous Father of all men. Have we ever sufficiently considered how much social reform was implied in this novel worship? It is true that we, even in these days, have not yet followed out our worship to its legitimate conclusions, but it has already had most weighty consequences.
Christ expressly declared that there would be a blending of nations—many would come from the east and the west in the Kingdom of God. Abbott said:
In the same spirit, he condemned the selfish moroseness of rich men who suppose that they have no responsibilities to society, he condemns violence, he inculcates respect for the weak and lowly, and, appealing to the down trodden classes of society, he calls upon them to enter the Kingdom of God.
How could that have been possible if the rich and the powerful were meant to continue treating the poor as slaves who were barely human and fit only to be mistreated by their betters? And equally how could it be possible when the downtrodded only wanted revenge for their sufferings. His formula of forgiveness was to be the force of reconciliation whreby the contending classes could live in harmony in a properly socialized world. The slaves became Christians and initially conciliated, but their masters never did. They took over the religion to perpetuate their dominance.
Christ was teaching the need for morality, sociability and fairness in the world 2000 years ago, and Abbott echoed it over a 100 years ago. What is different now? R H Frank, an economics professor at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, tells us in 2010 that the share of total income going to the top 1 percent of earners—8.9 percent in 1976—rose to 23 percent by 2007, but meanwhile the inflation adjusted hourly wage rate paid to ordinary workers in the USA declined by 7 percent.
Social reform has never been more needed in the USA, but too many vested interests stand in its way, from the rich Republican hierarchy and their paid political lobbyists and Tea Party agitators to the domination of propaganda by Fox and conservative radio talk ghouls, all of whom preach Christianity, but their own fake version of it. Today there are no saints, only Mammon’s demons.
