The Archbishop of Canterbury
Edward Benson helped set the stage for the Christian Social Union. In his
Christ and His Times (1886), Benson had written that "there is much in 'socialism,' as we now understand it, which honestly searches for some beneficial remedy—much of which is purely religious and Christian." Furthermore, Benson said that all clergy should have "some knowledge" of socialism and that they should "prepare and suggest and promote the wisest social measures." In the spirit of the archbishop's admonitions, in 1889,
Henry Scott Holland,
Regius Professor of Divinity at the
University of Oxford called together a group, which evolved into the Christian Social Union. From that meeting, the Christian Social Union (CSU) was established at
Oxford, England, on 16 November 1889. Within a year, it had 77 members. A London branch of the organisation was established the next year. It had 124 members in 1891. Its rules were that it would consist of "members of the Church of England" who agreed: • To claim for the Christian law the ultimate authority to rule social practice. • To study in common how to apply the moral truths and principles of Christianity to the social and economic problems of the present time. • To present Christ in practical life as the Living Master and King, the enemy of wrong and selfishness, the power of righteousness and love. The group's origins lay in the writings of
Frederick Denison Maurice (once a professor of theology at
King's College London),
Charles Kingsley, and
John Malcolm Forbes Ludlow. It avoided "hard and fast lines", allowing differing parties to work together in different ways in the same organisation. The Oxford and London branches of the CSU had very different orientations. The Oxford branch was concerned mostly with the accumulation and analysis of economic facts, with a view to helping to understand the nature and magnitude of contemporary social problems and developing potential solutions for such issues. The London branch, on the other hand, was more oriented towards mobilisation efforts, organising public meetings and providing series of
sermons and public lectures to
Church of England congregations as well as a broader public. While many of its aims were comparable to those of the
social gospel movement in the USA and Canada, the CSU was less directly aligned with forms of theological liberalism, and included both liberal and Anglo-Catholic leaders. One of the organisation's early
pamphlets declared: We start from the conviction ... that the time is come to vote urgency for the social question. We believe that political problems are rapidly giving place to the industrial problem, which is proving itself more and more to be the question of the hour ... We are of those who are convinced that the ultimate solution of this social question is bound to be discovered in the person and life of Christ. ==Development==