The Social Creed and Methodism Through Eighty Years 215

At/ethodist History, 26:4 (July 1988) i ' , . i THE SOCIAL CREED AND METHODISM I ~ ; THROUGH EIGHTY YEARS ! . DONALD K. GORRELL In May 1988 the United Methodist Church celebrates the eightieth anniversary of the Social Creed. But most persons know little about the role and function of this distinctive document, or its varied forms. Nor do they appreciate the unique relationship of this literary genre to Methodism. My purpose here is to describe the origin and evolution of the Social Creed, with special attention to its ties to Methodism through eight decades. American religious historians generally have accepted HarryF. Ward's evaluation that the adoption of the Social Creed in 1908 constituted "a significant fact in the history of religion" because it marked "the deliberate and conscious entrance of the Church upon the field of social action." 1 But few of them have bothered to explain the development of the social pronouncement beyond the acknowledgement that "it stands as one of the great symbols of the Social Gospel." 2 Typically, the interpretation of most historians emphasizes four essen tial ingredients: the Social Creed first was adopted by the Methodist Episcopal Church in May 1908; then it was approved in modified form by the Federal Council of Churches in December 1908; four years later it was supplemented, revised, and reaffirmed by the Federal Council; and it remained unchanged for twenty years until the ecumenical organiza tion again revised and enlarged it as the Social Ideals of the Churches in 1932. And then it virtually disappears from history. In most narratives the context of the Social Gospel and of ecumenical Protestantism is the primary emphasis. While its Methodist origin is sometimes noted, the cooperative response of Protestant churches to society's problems has been regarded as more important. Strangely, these interpretations account for less than half of the time the Social Creed has existed and the full story cannot be told without devoting major attention to the relation of Methodism to this social declaration. In the account that follows I focus on the Social Creed as an, official document. Several useful books interpret the Creed, but their primary pur pose is to understand and explain the affirmations stated in it. In contrast, IHarry F. Ward, The Social Creed ofthe Churches (New York: Eaton & Mains; Cincinnati: Jennings & Graham, 1912) 7. 2Frederick A. Norwood, The Story ofAmerican Methodism (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1974) 354. 213 214 Methodist History I view the Creed as a literary entity containing a number of ideas that was adopted as a unit, and I trace what happened to the total document, not to just one or more issues stated to it. Hence my emphasis is on the social statement as a unique and pliable type of literature. Another distinct feature of this narrative is its primary orientation to institutions, since officially incorporated organizations authorized the pronouncements. In the account, interaction ofthree institutions becomes centrally important. The Social Creed was initially created by the efforts ofthe Methodist Federation for Social Service; it was first officially adopted by the Methodist Episcopal Church; and it was then endorsed by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. These three bodies existed throughout the eighty years of the Creed's development and they continue to exist, although the names of each have changed along the way. The interaction of these institutions ranges from times of remarkable cooperation to periods of obvious differences and even to stages of open alienation. These shifts in relationships among the organizations directly affected the Creed's development. The importance of Methodism in t.his study is explained by the fact that this denomination has the only continuing relationship to the Social Creed throughout its eighty years' existence. Methodists were authors of its major recensions and were leaders who affected the origin and preser vation of the document. Moreover, Methodism was the only tradition that consistently used the term Social Creed and that continues to authorize such pronouncements to the present time. With these distinctive emphases in mind, we turn now to trace the Social Creed through six stages of development. Origins of the Social Creed (1907-1912) Although hindsight shows clearly that the origins of the Social Creed were multiple and derived from forces working inside and outside of the churches, in England and Europe as well as America, those who shaped the document believed they were responding to the immediate needs of their time in the United States. 3 In an era of unscrupulous business leaders and unprotected laborers, of political corruption and insurance scandals exposed by muckracking journalists and progressive reformers,4 the Methodist Federation for Social Service was created at Washington, DC, on December 3-4, 1907. Through the leaders and strategy of this organization the Social Creed had its birth. 3Harry F. Ward, "Twenty years of the Social Creed," Christian Century (Chicago), 19 Apr. 1928, 502-3. 4Washington Gladden, "The Church and the Social Crisis," Minutes ofthe National Coun cil of the Congregational Churches of the United States, 1907, 1-21. The Social Creed and Methodism Through Eighty Years 215 From its inception the Methodist Federation for Social Service deter mined that it would "be kept wholly unofficial in its relation to the General Conference and ... other official societies of Methodism" in order to main I, Jl tain the freedom to speak prophetically. But that autonomy did not in hibit the organization from seeking to influence its parent church. By a strategy of publicity, planning, and perseverance its leaders worked to I arouse the Methodist Episcopal General Conference in May, 1908, to take a stand on the economic problems that troubled the nation. A strategy of petitions that were assigned to a committee with sympathetic leaders enabled Herbert Welch and Harry F. Ward, two Federation officers who 1 ,1 were not delegates, to collaborate with the sub-committee that prepared I' il.! a report on "The Church and Social Problems." Through their informal unofficial participation the two quietly wrote most of the report that was approved by the conference on May 30, 1908. Later Welch acknowledged that Ward was the primary author of the report submitted.5 Within the three page report was a list of affirrnations that comprised the original Social Creed, which stated: The Methodist Episcopal Church stated: For equal rights and complete justice for all men in all stations of life. For the principles of conciliation and arbitration in industrial dissensions. For the protection of the worker from dangerous machineryt occupational diseases, injuriest and mortality. For the abolition of child labor. For such regulation of the conditions of labor for women as shall safeguard the physical and moral health of the community. For the suppression of the 'sweating system. For the gradual and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest prac tical pointt with work for all; and for that degree of leisure for all which is the condi tionof the highest human life. For a release for [from] employment one day in seven. For a living wage in every industry. For the highest wage that each industry can affordt and for the most equitable divi sion of the products of industry that can ultimately be devised. For the recognition of the Golden Rule and the mind of Christ as the supreme law of society and the sure remedy for all social ills. 6 This list of affirmations was recognized immediately as "a Methodist platform on social problems" that enabled the denomination to move "to a front place on questions of labor and capital," but the statefl?ent was S"Minutes of the Methodist Federation for Social Servicet 1907-1930/' (Unpublished manuscriptt Rose Memorial LibrarYt Drew UniversitYt Madisont NJ), 12-13 t 21,26; Herbert Welch, As I Recall My Past Century (Nashville: Abingdon Presst 1962)t 54-55. For more detailed information on this and succeeding events through 1912 see Donald K. Gorrellt "The Methodist Federation for Social Service and the Social Creed,u Methodist History 13 (Jan. 1975), 3-32. 6Journal of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1908, 547. 216 Methodist History not originally called the Social Creed. At the time of the General Con ference that title was not in use, but by the late summer of 1908, when the Methodist Federation reprinted the report, the section of eleven prin ciples was titled the "Social Creed of Methodism."? Adoption of the full report also recognized the greatness of Methodism's "opportunity in the present crisis and the consequent urgen cy ofits duty." The report went on to summon the denomination "to con tinue and increase its works of social service" and assigned responsibilities to the Methodist Federation for Social Service during the next quadren nium, thereby granting that organization unofficial recognition. 8 During the autumn of 1908 Frank Mason North, another of the Federation's leaders, created a second version of the Social Creed. An ac tive ecumenist as well as social activist, North chaired a committee that prepared an eighteen page report on "The Church and Modern Industry" that was presented to the first meeting of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America in December. In that document he included most of the recently adopted Methodist Social Creed but added four ad ditional affirmations that called for more rights for workers and the abate ment of poverty. Based on a more elaborate theological rationale and the conviction that it would take the combined efforts ofAmerican Protestant ism to deal with the social and industrial problems of the nation, North viewed the affirmations as an authoritative declaration by the combined denominations of the new Federal Council of Churches.

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