Washington Gladden

Gladden was born February 11, 1836, in Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania, the son of Solomon and Amanda (Daniels) Gladden. He was given the name Solomon Washington Gladden. When Gladden was six, his father died. After that, he lived with his uncle on a farm near Owego, New York. There, he learned and practiced a farmer's "manual arts" and used any free time for serious reading that included the Bible. During Gladden's formative years, western New York State was known as the Burned-Over District because it had been the center of a number of religious revivals. Gladden heard many preachers in a fruitless search for "assurance of divine favor" until, in his 18th year, a "clear-headed minister" helped him "trust the Heavenly Father's love" for him. From then on, Gladden believed that religion is "summed up in the word Friendship... with the Father above and the brother by our side." At 16, Gladden left his uncle's farm to become an apprentice at the Owego Gazette. Two years later (1854) at age 18, he became part of the temperance movement by joining the order of the Good Templars. ==Early career==

During his early career, Gladden held five positions in pastorates and journalism. In 1860, a pivotal year for Gladden, he received his first call to a pastorate, which was followed by ordination, marriage, the secession of southern states, and the impending Civil War. His first call was to State Street Congregational Church in Brooklyn, New York. He began his pastorate in June 1860 and was ordained in November. On December 5, 1860, Gladden and Jennie O. Cohoon, a schoolmate at the Owego Free Academy, were married. The couple had two daughters, two sons, and one granddaughter. Those events in Gladden's life came during what he recalled as "ominous and exciting events" in the nation's life. South Carolina seceded from the Union and was followed within two months by six other states. In June 1861, he resigned and accepted a call to the Congregational Church at Morrisania, New York, where he served until 1866. Gladden's third pastorate was in North Adams, Massachusetts, where he served from 1866 to 1871. In 1875, Gladden became pastor of the North Congregational Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, for seven years. During that pastorate, he also worked as editor of Sunday Afternoon (1878–1880). Sunday Afternoon described itself as "A Monthly Magazine for the Household." Besides editing, he also contributed articles. Gladden's active support for workers and their right to organize began during his years in North Adams and Springfield. His position aroused the opposition of mill and factory owners, but he was not deterred and continued his work for justice the rest of his life. He published Working People and their Employers in 1876, which advocated the unionization of employees, and was the first notable US clergyman to approve of unions. Gladden did not support socialism or laissez-faire but advocated instead the application of "Christian law" to issues. His 1877 book The Christian Way: Whither it Leads and How to Go On was his first national call for "the extension of Christian values into everyday life" and began his leadership in the Social Gospel movement. ==At Columbus==

Gladden became the pastor of the First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio, in 1882 and served in that position for thirty-six years. During that time, he furthered his national reputation as a religious leader and as a community leader by his preaching, lecturing, writing, and active involvement. Its congregation included legislators and other persons with the power to address the social injustices about which Gladden preached. He preached two 45-minute sermons each Sunday. In the morning, he preached on living the Christian life. In the evening, he preached on social problems. The evening sermon was printed in The Ohio State Journal the next day on page one. By the mid-1880s, he drew audiences across the nation to hear him speak for "bargaining rights for labor, a shorter work week, factory inspections, inheritance taxation, and regulation of natural monopolies." His goal was for "a gradual evolution toward a cooperative social order." He helped to promote his evangelical liberalism in books such as Burning Questions (1890) and Who Wrote the Bible (1891). In Who Wrote the Bible, Gladden stated: "it is idle to try to force the narrative of Genesis into an exact correspondence with geological science." In 1885, he took part in forming the American Economic Association and served on its council. The stated purpose of the association was "to support independent economic inquiry and to disseminate economic knowledge." In 1886, he traveled to Cleveland during a streetcar strike, spoke at a public meeting on "Is it Peace or War," and supported the rights of the workers to form a union to protect their interests. He also advocated public ownership of streetcars and public utilities. The more Gladden addressed social issues, the more his church grew: from 500 in 1883 to 1,200 in 1914. When members disagreed with him, rather than trying to bring them to agree with him, he sought to find common ground on which they could they stand together. In 1893, former US President Rutherford B. Hayes presented Gladden for the position of president of Ohio State University, but the board rejected him as "too pro-Catholic" because of his opposition to the anti-Catholic American Protective Association. However, the University of Notre Dame awarded Gladden an honorary doctorate for his stance. Gladden made several lecture tours to Great Britain. During the one in 1898, he defended the United States for entering the Spanish–American War as "humane." His concern about social issues was grounded on his liberal theology that viewed the Church's mission as applying Christian values to secular institutions. Gladden served a term on the Columbus City Council between 1900 and 1902 and became an advocate of municipal ownership of public works. He also led a movement to change the elections in Ohio from October to November. Gladden's famous 1903 sermon "Murder as an Epidemic" condemned lynching. In 1905, he made national news by denouncing a $100,000 gift to the Congregationalists from John D. Rockefeller as "tainted." ==Later life==

In 1914, Gladden retired and became "minister emeritus" of the First Congregational Church. Gladden was predeceased by Jennie, his wife of 49 years, who died May 8, 1909. The last four years of her life she suffered arteriosclerosis that brought her to a state of bed-ridden dementia. Never in the limelight, Jennie was "quietly supportive of her husband's very public career." Historians assessing Gladden's career emphasize the importance of his role in the Social Gospel movement. He became the social gospel's "most revered and respected spokesman" Gladden not only promoted a "Social Gospel of practical action" by his writing and speaking, he engaged in practical action by working for solutions. He supported workers' right to unionize, and he opposed racial segregation. These assessments by historians correlate with the goal Gladden held up for his ministry. In his 1909 autobiography Recollections, he wrote that, as a minister, he wanted to practice "a religion that laid hold upon life, and proposed first and foremost, to realize the Kingdom of God in this world." ==Honors==

Gladden never earned a theological degree, but he received 35 honorary doctorates. ==Bibliography==