View source for Christian socialism

{{Short description|Type of socialist philosophy}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{use Oxford spelling|date=January 2023}}
[[File:2108-young-arrestthisman.jpg|thumb|''[[The Masses]]'', 1917 political cartoon by socialist [[Art Young]]]]
{{Christian socialism sidebar}}
{{Socialism sidebar|variants}}
'''Christian socialism''' is a [[Religious philosophy|religious]] and [[political philosophy]] that blends [[Christianity]] and [[socialism]], endorsing [[socialist economics]] on the basis of the [[Bible]] and the teachings of [[Jesus]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Williams |first=Anthony Alan John |date=March 2016 |title=Christian Socialism as a Political Ideology |url=https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3001797/1/200514195_Mar2016.pdf |access-date=16 January 2023 |website=University of Liverpool Repository |publisher=University of Liverpool |page=5 |quote=Firstly, Christian Socialists based their socialism mainly on the Bible, church teaching and the sacraments, to a far greater extent than any other sources. Secondly, Christian Socialists called for a revolution but were committed to democratic methods, suggesting a synthesis between revolutionary and democratic socialism. In practice this can be sketched out as a three-stage process: first, persuading people of the deficiencies of capitalism and the need for socialism; second, the election of a Labour government / the persuasion of other politicians to adopt socialism; third, the establishment of socialism, brought about by a socialist government and population. Thirdly, Christian Socialists sought to create a society of co-operation and collectivism, equality, democracy and peace ... the concept at the core of Christian Socialism is brotherhood, based on the idea of the universal Fatherhood of God, and that other key concepts – co-operation, equality and democracy – are derived from this. In seeking co-operation, equality and democracy Christian Socialism is not necessarily distinct from other forms of socialism, but it is distinct in drawing upon Christian theology as a basis for these concepts as well as the language to describe a future socialist society. }}</ref> Many Christian socialists believe [[capitalism]] to be [[idolatrous]] and rooted in the [[sin]] of [[greed]].{{sfn|Leech|2000|pp=677–678}}<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=McIlhenny|editor-first=Ryan C.|date=16 July 2015|url=https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-4438-7705-3 <!--https://www.academia.edu/14823476/Render_unto_God_Christianity_and_Capitalism_in_Crisis--> |title=Render unto God: Christianity and Capitalism in Crisis|edition=hardbook|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-4438-7705-3|archive-date=15 January 2023|access-date=14 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115111010/https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-4438-7705-3|url-status=dead}}</ref> Christian socialists identify the cause of [[social inequality]] to be the greed that they associate with capitalism.{{sfn|Leech|2000|pp=677–678}} Christian socialism became a major movement in the United Kingdom beginning in the 19th century. The Christian Socialist Movement, known as [[Christians on the Left]] since 2013, is one formal group,{{sfn|Leech|2000|pp=677–678}}<ref name="Schmidt 2012">{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Schmidt |editor-first=Alvin J. |title=Christian Socialism |year=2012 |orig-date=2011 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization |location=[[Chichester, West Sussex]] |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |doi=10.1002/9780470670606.wbecc0289 |isbn=9781405157629 |quote=Although Frederick Denison Maurice's father was a Unitarian clergyman, Maurice later joined the Church of England, and in 1834 he became one of its ordained clergy. He was appalled by the widespread poverty, the misery of child labor, and the economic plight of the poor and working class in the 1830s and 1840s. Similar to his acquaintance, John Malcolm Ludlow, he believed that socialism would ameliorate England's socio-economic problems of the economically oppressed. But neither Maurice nor Ludlow wanted socialism, divorced from Christian principles. Socialism, in their opinion, needed the guidance of Christian values. Thus, Maurice coined the term 'Christian socialism' in 1848, as he launched the Christian Socialist Movement. He had another close associate in Charles Kingsley, also an avid proponent of Christian socialism. In 1850, a periodical, ''The Christian Socialist'', was created with Ludlow as editor.}}</ref> as well as a faction of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]].<ref>{{citation|last=Routledge|first=Paul|date=22 May 1994|title=Labour revives faith in Christian Socialism|work=The Independent on Sunday|postscript=.}} Archived from the original on 1 July 2018.</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|editor-last=Kurian|editor-first=Thomas|year=2011|title=Christian socialism|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Political Science|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=CQ Press|page=1555|isbn=978-1-933116-44-0}}</ref>

According to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', socialism is a "social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work isolated, but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members. ... Early Christian communities also practised the sharing of goods and labour, a simple form of socialism subsequently followed in certain forms of [[monasticism]]. Several monastic orders continue these practices today."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ball|first1=Terence|last2=Dagger|first2=Richard<!--''et al.''-->|date=30 April 2020|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/socialism|title=Socialism|website=Encyclopedia Britannica Online|access-date=15 September 2020}}</ref>

The [[Hutterites]] believe in strict adherence to biblical principles and church discipline, and practices [[common ownership]] of nearly all property, resembling a form of [[communism]] to secular observers. In the words of historians Max Stanton and Rod Janzen, the Hutterites "established in their communities a rigorous system of Ordnungen, which were codes of rules and regulations that governed all aspects of life and ensured a unified perspective. As an economic system, [[Christian communism]] was attractive to many of the peasants who supported social revolution in sixteenth century central Europe", such as the [[German Peasants' War]], and [[Friedrich Engels]] came to view [[Anabaptists]] as [[proto-communists]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Janzen|first1=Rod|last2=Stanton|first2=Max|year=2010|title=The Hutterites in North America|edition=illustrated|location=Baltimore|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lgUbHUXmrvYC&pg=PA17 17]|isbn=978-0-8018-9925-6}}</ref>

Other earlier figures viewed as Christian socialists include the 19th-century writers [[F. D. Maurice]] (''The Kingdom of Christ'', 1838),<ref name="Schmidt 2012"/> [[John Malcolm Forbes Ludlow]] (''The Christian Socialist'', 1850),<ref name="Schmidt 2012" /> [[Adin Ballou]] (''Practical Christian Socialism'', 1854),<ref name="Sartwell 2018">{{cite book|last=Sartwell|first=Crispin|date=1 January 2018|chapter=Anarchism and Nineteenth-Century American Political Thought|url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004356894/B9789004356894_018.xml|title=Brill's Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy|pages=454–483|doi=10.1163/9789004356894_018|isbn=978-9-0043-5688-7|url-access=subscription}}</ref> [[Thomas Hughes]] (''[[Tom Brown's School Days]]'', 1857),<ref name="Norman 2002 p. 91">{{cite book|last=Norman|first=Edward|year=2002|orig-year=1987|title=The Victorian Christian Socialists|edition=paperback|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=m0rulxQwrKkC&pg=PA91 91]|isbn=978-0-5215-3051-4}}</ref> [[John Ruskin]] (''[[Unto This Last]]'', 1862),<ref name="MacCarthy 1994">{{cite book|last=MacCarthy|first=Fiona|year=1994|title=William Morris: A Life for Our Time|publisher=Faber and Faber|pages=69–70, 87}}</ref> [[Charles Kingsley]] (''[[The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby]]'', 1863),<ref name="Schmidt 2012"/> [[Frederick James Furnivall]] (co-creator of the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''),<ref name="Peterson 2007">{{cite ODNB|id=33298|title=Furnivall, Frederick James|orig-year=2004|year=2007|last=Peterson|first=William S.}}</ref> and [[Francis Bellamy]] (a [[Baptist]] minister and the author of the [[Pledge of Allegiance]] in the United States).<ref name="Dorn 2017">{{cite magazine|last=Dorn|first=Charles|date=8 September 2017|title=How a Socialist Ended Up Writing the Pledge of Allegiance |url=https://fortune.com/2017/09/08/pledge-of-allegiance-francis-bellamy-immigration/ |access-date=16 January 2023 |magazine=Fortune}}</ref>
{{TOC limit|3}}

== History ==
=== Biblical age ===
Elements that would form the basis of Christian socialism are found in the [[Old Testament]], as well as the [[New Testament]]s.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=19}} They include {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|15:1-5}}, {{bibleverse|Ezekiel|18:7}}, {{bibleverse|Isaiah|58:2-7}}, {{bibleverse|James|2:14}}, {{bibleverse|James|5:1-6}}, {{bibleverse|Job|31:16-25, 28}}, {{bibleverse|John|11:10-11}}, {{bibleverse|Leviticus|25: 35-38}}, {{bibleverse|Luke|4:18}}, {{bibleverse|Matthew|6:24}}, {{bibleverse|Matthew|19:23-24}}, {{bibleverse|Matthew|25:40-46}}, {{bibleverse|Proverbs|28:3-28}}, and {{bibleverse|Proverbs|31:9}}.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cavanaugh |first=Clayton |date=May 29, 2021 |title=No Good Christians are Capitalists |url=https://cavanaugh.fyi/2021/05/29/no-good-christians-are-capitalists/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230527190046/https://cavanaugh.fyi/2021/05/29/no-good-christians-are-capitalists/ |archive-date=May 27, 2023 |access-date=January 11, 2023 |website=Cavanaugh}}</ref>

==== Old Testament ====
The Old Testament had divided perspectives on the issue of poverty. One part of the Biblical tradition held that poverty was judgment of God upon the wicked while viewing prosperity as a reward for the good, stating in the {{bibleverse|Proverbs|13:25}} that "[t]he righteous have enough to satisfy their appetite, but the belly of the wicked is empty."{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=20}} There are other sections that instruct generosity to the have-nots of society. [[Mosaic Law]] instructs followers to treat neighbours equally and to be generous to have-nots.{{sfn|Cort|1988|pp=19–21}}
{{blockquote|You shall not oppress your neighbour ... but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=21}}|[[Book of Leviticus|Leviticus]] 19:13, 18}}
{{blockquote|For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.{{sfn|Cort|1988}}|[[Book of Deuteronomy|Deuteronomy]] 10:17–19}}
{{blockquote|When you reap in your harvest in the field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. ... When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again. ... When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=19}}|Deuteronomy 24:19–22}}

Some of the [[Psalms]] include many references to [[social justice]] for the poor.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=22}}
{{blockquote|Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=22}}|Psalms 82 (81): 3, 4}}
{{blockquote|Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! ... He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honour.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=22}}|Psalms 112 (111): 1, 9}}

[[Amos (prophet)|Amos]] emphasizes the need for justice and righteousness that is described as conduct that emphasizes love for those who are poor and to oppose oppression and injustice towards the poor.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=23}} The prophet [[Isaiah]], to whom is attributed the [[Book of Isaiah]] Followed upon Amos' themes of justice and righteousness involving the poor as necessary for followers of God, denouncing those who do not do these things.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=23}}
{{blockquote|Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. ... [C]ease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=23}}|Isaiah 1:15–17}}

The [[Book of Sirach]], one of the [[deuterocanonical]] or [[biblical apocrypha]] books of the Old Testament, denounces the pursuit of wealth.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=28}}
{{blockquote|He who loves gold will not be justified, and he who pursues money will be led astray by it. Many have come to ruin because of gold, and their destruction has met them face to face. It is a stumbling block to those who are devoted to it, and every fool will be taken captive by it.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=28}}|Sirach 31: 5–7}}

==== New Testament ====
[[File:Giovanni Paolo Pannini 001.jpg|thumb|400px|''Jesus Expels the Moneylenders from the Temple'' by [[Giovanni Paolo Pannini]], 1750]]
The [[teachings of Jesus]] are frequently described as socialist, especially by Christian socialists, such as [[Terry Eagleton]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Eagleton |first=Terry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAeREAAAQBAJ |title=The Gospels: Jesus Christ |date=17 October 2007 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-84467-176-2 |edition=paperback |location=London}}</ref> {{Bibleverse|Acts|4:32}} records that in the [[Early Christianity|early church]] in [[Jerusalem]] "[n]o one claimed that any of their possessions was their own"; this pattern, which helped Christians survive after the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|siege of Jerusalem]], was taken seriously for several centuries,{{sfn|Montero|2017|p=5}} and was an important factor in the rise of [[feudalism]]. While it would later disappear from [[church history]] except within [[monasticism]], it experienced a revival since the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book|first=Frank K. |last=Flinn |title=Encyclopedia of Catholicism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxEONS0FFlsC&pg=PA173 |year=2007 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-8160-7565-2 |pages=173–174}}</ref> Christian socialism was one of the founding threads of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in the United Kingdom and is said to begin with the uprising of [[Wat Tyler]] and [[John Ball (priest)|John Ball]] in the 14th century.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/labour-revives-faith-in-christian-socialism-1437750.html|title=Labour revives faith in Christian Socialism|work=The Independent|date=21 May 1994|access-date=13 January 2023}}</ref>

In the New Testament, [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]] identifies himself with the hungry, the poor, the sick, and the prisoners.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=31}} [[Matthew 25:31–46]] is a major component of Christianity and is considered the cornerstone of Christian socialism.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=31}} Another key statement in the New Testament that is an important component of Christian socialism is Luke 10:25–37 that follows the statement "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" with the question "And who is my neighbour?" In the [[Parable of the Good Samaritan]]. Jesus gives the response that the neighbour includes anyone in need, even people we might be expected to shun.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=32}} The [[Samaritans]] and [[Jews]] claim descension from different [[Tribes of Israel]], which had faced a schism prior to the events described in the New Testament.{{sfn|Bourgel|2016|p=1}}{{sfn|Crown|1989|p=17}} This schism led to interethnic and interreligious conflict between the two groups.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=32}}

Luke 6:20–21 shows Jesus narrating the [[Sermon on the Plain]]. It reads: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied."{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=37}} Christian socialists cite [[James the Just]], the brother of Jesus, who criticizes the rich intensely and in strong language in the [[Epistle of James]].{{sfn|Cort|1988|pp=41–42}}
{{blockquote|Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up for treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.{{sfn|Cort|1988|pp=41–42}}|James 5:1–6}}

During the New Testament period and beyond, there is evidence that many Christian communities practised forms of sharing, redistribution, and communism. Some of the Bible verses that inspired the communal economic arrangements of the [[Hutterites]] are found in the book of [[the Acts]].{{sfn|Montero|2017}}
{{blockquote|All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.|Acts 2, 44–45}}
{{blockquote|All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had.|Acts 4, 32}}
{{blockquote|There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from their sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.|Acts 4, 34–35}}

=== Church Fathers age ===
[[Basil of Caesarea]], the [[Church Father]] of the Eastern monks who became [[Bishop of Caesarea]], established a complex (later called [[Basileias]]) around the church and monastery that included hostels, almshouses, and hospitals for infectious diseases.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=43}} During the great famine of 368, Basil denounced against profiteers and the indifferent rich.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=43}} Basil wrote a [[sermon]] on the [[Parable of the Rich Fool]] in which he states:
{{blockquote|"Who is the covetous man? One for whom plenty is not enough. Who is the defrauder? One who takes away what belongs to everyone. And are not you covetous, are you not a defrauder, when you keep for private use what you were given for distribution? When some one strips a man of his clothes we call him a thief. And one who might clothe the naked and does not—should not he be given the same name? The bread in your hoard belongs to the hungry; the cloak in your wardrobe belongs to the naked; the shoes you let rot belong to the barefoot; the money in your vaults belongs to the destitute. All you might help and do not—to all these you are doing wrong."{{sfn|Cort|1988|pp=43–44}}}}

[[John Chrysostom]] declared his reasons for his attitude towards the rich and position of attitude towards wealth.{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=45}} He said:
{{blockquote|"I am often reproached for continually attacking the rich. Yes, because the rich are continually attacking the poor. But those I attack are not the rich as such, only those who misuse their wealth. I point out constantly that those I accuse are not the rich, but the rapacious; wealth is one thing, covetousness another. Learn to distinguish."{{sfn|Cort|1988|p=45}}}}

=== Early modern period ===
During the [[English Civil War]] and the period of the [[Commonwealth of England]] (1642–1660), the [[Diggers]] espoused a political and economic theory rooted in Christianity that bears a strong resemblance to modern socialism,<ref>{{cite book|last=Winstanley|first=Gerrard|editor-last=Jones|editor-first=Sandra|year=2002|orig-year=1649|url=https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/863|title=The True Levellers Standard Advanced: Or, the State of Community Opened, and Presented to the Sons of Men|publisher=R. S. Bear|edition=Renascence|access-date=11 January 2023|via=Digital Repository Unimib|quote=That we may work in righteousness, and lay the Foundation of making the Earth a Common Treasury for All, both Rich and Poor, That every one that is born in the Land, may be fed by the Earth his Mother that brought him forth, according to the Reason that rules in the Creation. Not Inclosing any part into any particular hand, but all as one man, working together, and feeding together as Sons of one Father, members of one Family; not one Lording over another, but all looking upon each other, as equals in the Creation; ... .}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[International Socialism (magazine)|International Socialism]] |title=A common treasury for all: Gerrard Winstanley's vision of utopia |issue=154 |date=5 April 2017 |first=Martin |last=Empson |url=https://isj.org.uk/a-common-treasury-for-all/ |access-date=12 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007013718/https://isj.org.uk/a-common-treasury-for-all/ |archive-date=7 October 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> particularly its [[anarchist]] and [[communist]] strains.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Stearns |editor-first1=Peter |editor-link1=Peter Stearns |editor-last2=Fairchilds |editor-first2=Cissie |editor-last3=Lindenmeyr |editor-first3=Adele |editor-last4=Maynes |editor-first4=Mary Jo |editor-last5=Porter |editor-first5=Roy |editor-link5=Roy Porter |editor-last6=Radcliff |editor-first6=Pamela |editor-link6=Pamela Radcliff |editor-last7=Ruggiero |editor-first7=Guido |editor-link7=Guido Ruggiero |year=2001 |title=Encyclopedia of European Social History: From 1350 to 2000 |volume=3 |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |isbn=0-684-80577-4 |pages=290}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=Heather M. |year=2009 |title=The Britannica Guide to Political Science and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World |publisher=[[The Rosen Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-1-61530-062-4 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=kL_FviFwCCIC&pg=PA129 127–129]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Johnson |first=Daniel |title=Winstanley's Ecology: The English Diggers Today |magazine=[[Monthly Review]] |date=1 December 2013 |url=https://monthlyreview.org/2013/12/01/winstanleys-ecology/ |access-date=12 September 2021}}</ref> Some scholars believe the [[Munster Rebellion]] may have formed an early socialist state.<ref name="Twentieth Century 1896 p. 35-PA4">{{cite book | title=Twentieth Century | issue=v. 17 | year=1896 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRrrwW0MmuMC&dq=John+matthias+munster+socialist+state&pg=RA35-PA4 | access-date=2023-03-02 | page=35-PA4}}</ref>

=== 19th century to present ===
In "Religion and the Rise of Socialism", historian [[Eric Hobsbawn]] argued that the "modern working-class socialist movement has developed an overwhelmingly secular, indeed often militantly anti-religious ideology." At the same time, he and other historians cited examples where this was not the case, particularly Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries, where [[E. P. Thompson]] and Stephen Yo said a form of [[ethical socialism]] dominated the [[labour movement]]. A prominent example of Christian socialism, or socialist Christianity, was [[Keir Hardie]], a founder of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in Britain, who said he learnt his "Socialism in the New Testament", where he said he found what he described as his "chief inspiration". Those socialists argued that socialism was the embodiment of the [[teachings of Jesus]], and that it would also rescue the church from [[Mammon]], which they said caused it to have lost its way and become corrupt by siding with the rich and powerful against the poor. According to this view, socialism was not anti-religion but was opposed to those who would use it to support capitalism and the ''status quo''.<ref name="Knox 1988">{{cite journal |last=Knox |first=W. W. |date=October 1988 |title=Religion and the Scottish Labour Movement c. 1900–39 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=609–630 |doi=10.1177/002200948802300406 |jstor=260837|s2cid=159655098 |issn=0022-0094}}</ref> [[James Connolly]] is credited with setting the groundwork for Christian socialism in Ireland.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lubienski|first=Christopher Andrew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2i7ak67BG4EC&q=james+connolly+christian+socialism|title=James Connolly's Integration of Socialism, Nationalism, and Christianity in the Context of Irish History|date=1992|publisher=Michigan State University. Department of History}}</ref> Connolly, who wrote a story for the Christian socialist journal ''Labour Prophet'',<ref>{{cite news|date=15 January 2019|title=Short story in 1894 journal may be lost James Connolly play|first1=Caroline|last1=Davies|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jan/15/short-story-in-1894-journal-may-be-lost-james-connolly-play|access-date=18 January 2023|work=The Guardian|archive-date=7 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107235748/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jan/15/short-story-in-1894-journal-may-be-lost-james-connolly-play|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|date=1 March 2019|title=Long-Lost James Connolly Play May Be Found|url=https://irishamerica.com/2019/03/long-lost-james-connolly-play-may-be-found/|access-date=18 January 2023|magazine=Irish America|archive-date=4 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204142031/https://irishamerica.com/2019/03/long-lost-james-connolly-play-may-be-found/|url-status=live}}</ref> said: "It is not Socialism but Capitalism that is opposed to religion ... when the organised Socialist working class tramples upon the Capitalist Class it will not be trampling on a pillar of God's Church but upon a blasphemous defiler of the Sanctuary, it will be rescuing the faith from the impious vermin who make it noisome to the really religious men and women."<ref name="Knox 1988"/>

In France, [[Philippe Buchez]] began to characterize his philosophy as Christian socialism in the 1820s and 1830s. A variety of socialist perspectives emerged in 19th-century Britain, beginning with [[John Ruskin]]. [[Edward R. Norman]] identifies what he describes as the three "immediate intellectual sources" for mid-century Christian socialism: [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], [[Thomas Carlyle]], and [[Thomas Arnold]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Norman|first=Edward|year=2002|orig-year=1987|title=The Victorian Christian Socialists|edition=paperback|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=m0rulxQwrKkC&pg=PA10 10]|isbn=978-0-5215-3051-4}}</ref> The United States also has a Christian socialist tradition.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Spargo|first=John|author-link=John Spargo|year=1909|url=https://archive.org/stream/jstor-2762617/2762617#page/n1/mode/2up<!--https://zenodo.org/record/1431287-->|title=Christian Socialism in America|journal=American Journal of Sociology|volume=15|issue=1|pages=16–20|doi=10.1086/211752|issn=0002-9602|jstor=2762617|s2cid=145687046|id={{zenodo|1431287}}|access-date=18 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Brown|first=William Thurston|year=1910|title=Socialism and Primitive Christianity|url=https://archive.org/details/socialism_and_primitive_christianity_william_thurston_brown|location=Chicago|publisher=Charles H. Kerr & Company|access-date=18 January 2023}}</ref> In Utah, it developed and flourished in the first part of the 20th century, playing an important part in the development and expression of radicalism. Part of a larger, nationwide movement in many American Protestant churches, [[Christian socialism in Utah]] was particularly strong, and dedicated Christian socialist ministers, such as [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] bishop [[Franklin Spencer Spalding]] of Utah and [[Congregational]] minister [[Myron W. Reed]] in the American West,{{sfn|Berman|2007<!--|ps=:"Even Christian Socialist Bishop Franklin Spencer Spaulding got caught up in the turmoil, booed in 1913 by Wobblies in the audience for a speech he gave at Socialist party headquarters in Salt Lake City after saying it was wrong to favor direct action over political action ... The movement also attracted the support of Christian Socialist Myron Reed."-->}} were fierce advocates for the miners laboring in the [[Mountain states]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=McCormick|first1=John S.|last2=Sillito|first2=John R.|year=1989|title=Socialists in Power: The Eureka, Utah Experience, 1907–1925|url=https://weberstudies.weber.edu/archive/archive%20A%20%20Vol.%201-10.3/Vol.%206.1/6.1McCormickSilito.htm|journal=Weber Studies|volume=6|issue=1|pages=55–67|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706231947/http://weberstudies.weber.edu/archive/archive%20A%20%20Vol.%201-10.3/Vol.%206.1/6.1McCormickSilito.htm|archive-date=6 July 2010|access-date=18 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=McCormick|first1=John S.|last2=Sillito|first2=John R.|year=2011|title=A History of Utah Radicalism Startling, Socialistic, and Decidedly Revolutionary|location=Logan, Utah|publisher=Utah State University Press|isbn=978-0-87421-848-0}}</ref>

==== John Ruskin ====
The influential [[Victorian era]] art critic [[John Ruskin]] expounded theories about social justice in ''[[Unto This Last]]'' (1860). In it, he stated four goals that might be called socialist even though Ruskin did not use the term.{{sfn|Ruskin|1872|pp=xi–xiii}}
# "[T]raining schools for youth, established at government cost."
# In connection with these schools, the government should establish "manufactories and workshops, for the production and sale of every necessary of life."
# All unemployed people should be "set to work" or trained for work if needed or forced to work if necessary.
# "[F]or the old and destitute, comfort and home should be provided."

Although Norman says Ruskin was not "an authentic Socialist in any of its various nineteenth-century meanings", as his only real contact with the Christian socialists came through the [[Working Men's College]], he influenced later socialist thinking, especially the artist [[William Morris]].{{sfn|Norman|1987|pp=122, 132}}

==== Artists ====
The painters of the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]] were influenced and sponsored by Ruskin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/prb/1.html |title=Pre-Raphaelites: An Introduction |last=Landow |first=George P. |year=2015 |orig-year=1989|website=The Victorian Web |access-date=4 June 2016}}</ref> Morris was a leader of the [[Socialist League (UK, 1885)|Socialist League]] founded in December 1884.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/morris/wmsocialm.html |title=Morris's Socialism|last=Cody |first=David |year=2002 |orig-year=1987 |website=The Victorian Web |access-date=4 June 2016}}</ref>

==== Fabian Society ====
The [[Fabian Society]] was founded in 1884, with [[Beatrice Webb]] and [[Sydney Webb]] being among its leading members. The Fabians influenced members of the [[Bloomsbury Group]] and were important in the early [[history of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fabians.org.uk/about/the-fabian-story/ |title=The Fabian Story |publisher=Fabian Society |access-date=23 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225174734/http://www.fabians.org.uk/about/the-fabian-story/ |archive-date=25 December 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===== Episcopal Church Socialist League and Church League for Industrial Democracy =====
Founded by [[Vida Dutton Scudder]] in 1911,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/scudder-vida-dutton |title=Scudder, Vida Dutton |date=22 May 2012 |website=Episcopal Church |access-date=24 October 2018}}</ref> herself influenced by the Fabian Society, the Episcopal Church Socialist League and its successor, the Church League for Industrial Democracy, sought to ally Christian doctrine with the plight of the working class as a part of the larger [[social gospel movement]] that was taking hold of many urban churches across the United States in the early 20th century.<ref name="Rossinow 2005">{{cite journal|last=Rossinow|first=Doug|year=2005|title=The Radicalization of the Social Gospel: Harry F. Ward and the Search for a New Social Order, 1898–1936|journal=Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation|volume=15|issue=1|pages=63–106|doi=10.1525/rac.2005.15.1.63|issn=1533-8568|jstor=10.1525/rac.2005.15.1.63|s2cid=144701279 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/christian-socialism |title=Christian Socialism |date=22 May 2012 |website=Episcopal Church |access-date=24 October 2018}}</ref>

In the November 1914 issue of ''The Christian Socialist'', Spalding stated:
{{blockquote|"The Christian Church exists for the sole purpose of saving the human race. So far she has failed, but I think that Socialism shows her how she may succeed. It insists that men cannot be made right until the material conditions be made right. Although man cannot live by bread alone, he must have bread. Therefore, the Church must destroy a system of society which inevitably creates and perpetuates unequal and unfair conditions of life. These unequal and unfair conditions have been created by competition. Therefore competition must cease and cooperation take its place."{{sfn|Berman|2007|pp=11–12}}}}

==== Christian anarchism ====
{{Main|Christian anarchism}}
Although anarchists have traditionally been skeptical of or vehemently opposed to [[organized religion]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Walter|first=Nicholas|date=1991|url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/nicolas-walter-anarchism-and-religion |title=Anarchism and Religion |website=Tao.ca|via=The Anarchist Library|access-date=13 January 2023}}</ref> some anarchists have provided religious interpretations and approaches to anarchism, including the idea that glorification of the [[State (polity)|state]] is a form of sinful [[idolatry]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |date=2010 |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |location=Exeter |publisher=Imprint Academic |page=254 |chapter=The state as idolatry}}</ref> Christian anarchists say anarchism is inherent in [[Christianity]] and the [[Gospel]]s,<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |location=Exeter |pages=2–4 |quote=Locating Christian anarchism ... In political theology ... In political thought ... .}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Christoyannopoulos |first1=Alexandre |editor1-first=Nathan J. |editor1-last=Jun |editor2-first=Shane |editor2-last=Wahl |title=New Perspectives on Anarchism |date=2010 |publisher=[[Lexington Books]] |isbn=978-0739132401 |page=149 |quote=Christian anarchism 'is not an attempt to synthesise two systems of thought' that are hopelessly incompatible; rather, it is 'a realisation that the premise of anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the message of the Gospels'.}}</ref> that it is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable—the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus. It therefore rejects the idea that human governments have ultimate authority over human societies. Christian anarchists denounce the state, believing it is violent, deceitful, and idolatrous when glorified.<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |location=Exeter |page=254 |quote=The state as idolatry Christian anarchists accuse other 'Christians' of idolatry not only in their worship of money, but also in their worship of the state ... .}}</ref>

The foundation of Christian anarchism is a rejection of violence, with [[Leo Tolstoy]]'s ''[[The Kingdom of God Is Within You]]'' regarded as a key text. Tolstoy sought to separate [[Russian Orthodox Christianity]]—which was merged with the state—from what he believed was the true message of Jesus as contained in the Gospels, specifically in the [[Sermon on the Mount]]. Tolstoy takes the [[Christian pacifist]] viewpoint that all governments who wage war, and churches who in turn support those governments, are an affront to the Christian principles of [[nonviolence]] and [[nonresistance]]. Although Tolstoy never used ''Christian anarchism'' in ''The Kingdom of God Is Within You'', reviews of this book following its publication in 1894 appear to have coined the term.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O40-YRkO0t8C&q=%22christian+anarchism%22 |title=Christian anarchism|magazine=Review of Reviews|volume=9|page=306|year=1894|editor-last=Stead|editor-first=William Thomas}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sIpNAAAAYAAJ&q=%22christian+anarchism%22 |title=Christian anarchism|magazine=The Speaker|volume=9|page=254|year=1894|publisher=Mather & Crowther}}</ref>

Christian anarchists hold that the Reign of God is the proper expression of the relationship between God and humanity. Under the Reign of God, human relationships would be characterized by divided authority, [[servant leadership]], and universal compassion—not by the hierarchical, authoritarian structures that are normally attributed to religious social order.<ref>{{cite book |title=The UNkingdom of God |last=Van Steenwyk |first=Mark |year=2013 |publisher=IVP Books |location=Downers Grove, Illinois |isbn=978-0830836550}}</ref> Most Christian anarchists are [[pacifists]] who reject war and the use of violence.<ref>{{cite web |first=Alexandre |last=Christoyannopoulos |url=http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2010/1338_1226.pdf |title=A Christian Anarchist Critique of Violence: From Turning the Other Cheek to a Rejection of the State |date=March 2010 |publisher=Political Studies Association |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812071723/http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2010/1338_1226.pdf |archive-date=12 August 2011|access-date=16 January 2023}}</ref> More than any other Bible source, the [[Sermon on the Mount]] is used as the basis for Christian anarchism.<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |location=Exeter |pages=43–80}}</ref> Tolstoy's ''The Kingdom of God Is Within You'' is often regarded as a key text for modern Christian anarchism.<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |location=Exeter |pages=19, 208}}</ref>

Critics of Christian anarchism include both Christians and anarchists. Christians often cite [[Romans 13]] as evidence that the state should be obeyed,<ref>{{cite web |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |title=Was Jesus an anarchist? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2011/05/was_jesus_an_anarchist.html |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=17 May 2011|access-date=16 January 2023|quote=The two passages that are most frequently brought up as 'clear evidence' ... to respect civil authorities and to honour secular governments as those whom God has placed in authority ... are Romans 13 and 'render unto Caesar'.}}</ref> while [[secular anarchists]] do not believe in any authority including God as per the slogan "[[no gods, no masters]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Alexis-Baker |first=Nekeisha |title=Embracing God and Rejecting Masters: On Christianity, Anarchism and the State |journal=The Utopian |date=October 2006 |volume=5 |url=http://www.utopianmag.com/archives/embracing-god-and-rejecting-masters |quote=The anarchist position on God can be summed up in the popular slogan, 'No God and no masters'. ... If God is indeed a tyrant as Bakunin asserts then the abolition of God and religion are necessary parts of what it means to be anarchist.}}</ref> Christian anarchists often believe Romans 13 is taken out of context,<ref>{{cite web |last=Craig |first=Kevin |date=2010|title=Romans 13: The Most Disastrously Misinterpreted Scripture in the History of the Human Race |url=http://romans13.com|website=Romans13|access-date=13 January 2023}}</ref> emphasizing that [[Revelation 13]] and [[Isaiah 13]], among other passages, are needed to fully understand Romans 13 text.<ref>{{cite web |date=2007|title='Unlucky 13': Romans 13, Revelation 13, and Isaiah 13... and why the State does not want you to read them together |url=http://vftonline.org/xmaspiracy/5/Romans13/unlucky13.htm|website=VFT Online|access-date=13 January 2023}}</ref>

==== Christian communism ====
{{Main|Christian communism}}
Christian communism is a form of [[religious communism]] based on [[Christianity]] and the view that the teachings of Jesus compel [[Christians]] to support communism as the ideal [[social system]]. While there is no universal agreement on the exact date when Christian communism was founded, Christian communists say that evidence from the [[Bible]] suggests that the first Christians, including the [[Apostles in the New Testament]] as described in the Acts, established their own communist society in the years following Jesus' death and resurrection.<ref>Acts 2:44, 4:32–37; 5:1–12. Other verses are Matthew 5:1–12, 6:24, Luke 3:11, 16:11, 2 Corinthians 8:13–15 and James 5:3.</ref>

Advocates of Christian communism, including other communists, such as [[Karl Marx]], [[Friedrich Engels]], and [[Karl Kautsky]], argue that it was taught by Jesus and practised by the apostles themselves.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kautsky |first=Karl |author-link=Karl Kautsky |title=Foundations of Christianity |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1908/christ/index.htm |date=1953 |orig-year=1908 |publisher=Russell and Russell |chapter=IV.II. The Christian Idea of the Messiah. Jesus as a Rebel. |chapter-url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1908/christ/ch10.htm#s3|quote=Christianity was the expression of class conflict in Antiquity.}}</ref> This is generally agreed by historians.{{sfn|Montero|2017|p=5}}<ref>See also {{cite book|first=Gustav |last=Bang |translator-first=Arnold |translator-last=Petersen |url=http://www.slp.org/pdf/others/crises_bang.pdf |title=Crises in European History |page=24 |publisher=[[Socialist Labor Party of America]] |date=March 2001}} {{cite book|last=Lansford |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Lansford |title=Communism. Political Systems of the World |access-date=16 May 2011 |year=2007 |publisher=[[Marshall Cavendish]] |isbn=9780761426288 |pages=24–25 |chapter=History of Communism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MjjTt-TITcUC&q=apostles+communist&pg=PA24}} {{cite book|last=von Mises |first=Ludwig |author-link=Ludwig von Mises |title=Socialism |access-date=16 May 2011 |year=1981 |orig-year=1951 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Heaven |page=424 |chapter=Christianity and Socialism |isbn=9780913966624 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3GXi4MQQs3IC&q=apostles+communist+acts&pg=PA424}} {{cite book|title=The London Quarterly and Holborn Review, Volume 26 |access-date=10 May 2011 |year=1866 |orig-year=April and July |location=London |page=502 |chapter=Rénan's Les Apôtres. Community life |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zhoaAQAAIAAJ&q=ananias+punished+death+communism&pg=PA502 |via=[[Google Books]]}} {{cite book|last=Unterbrink |first=Daniel T. |title=Judas the Galilean |access-date=10 May 2011 |year=2004 |publisher=iUniverse |location=Lincoln |isbn=0-595-77000-2 |page=92 |chapter=The Dead Sea Scrolls |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AhBFPH864P4C&q=ananias+punished+death+communism&pg=PA92 |via=[[Google Books]]}} {{cite book|first=Donald |last=Guthrie |author-link=Donald Guthrie (theologian) |orig-year=1975 |year=1992 |publisher=[[Zondervan]] |isbn=978-0-310-25421-8 |title=The Apostles |page=[https://archive.org/details/apostles0010guth/page/46 46] |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |chapter=3. Early Problems. 15. Early Christian Communism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uts4VTUm1iEC&q=apostles+communist+acts&pg=PA46 |url=https://archive.org/details/apostles0010guth/page/46 |via=[[Google Books]]}} {{cite book|first=Ernest |last=Renan |page=152 |title=Origins of Christianity |publisher=Carleton |location=New York |year=1869 |chapter=VIII. First Persecution. Death of Stephen. Destruction of the First Church of Jerusalem |volume=II. The Apostles |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knYRAAAAYAAJ&q=apostles+communist&pg=PA152 |via=[[Google Books]]}} {{cite book|first=Arnold |last=Ehrhardt |title=The Acts of the Apostles |year=1969|isbn=978-0719003820 |publisher=[[University of Manchester Press]] |location=Manchester |chapter=St Peter and the Twelve |page=20 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kAbZAAAAIAAJ&q=apostles+communist+calvin&pg=PA20 |via=[[Google Books]]}} {{cite book|first=Roland |last=Boer |page=120 |title=Political Grace. The Revolutionary Theology of John Calvin |chapter=Conclusion: What If? Calvin and the Spirit of Revolution. Bible |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-664-23393-8 |location=Louisville, Kentucky |publisher=[[Westminster John Knox Press]] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HIeLYNEq6zsC&q=apostles+communist+calvin&pg=PA120 |via=[[Google Books]]}} {{cite book|first=Reta |last=Halteman Finger |year=2007 |page=39 |title=Of Widows and Meals. Communal Meals in the Book of Acts |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. |location=Cambridge |chapter=Reactions to Style and Redaction Criticism |isbn=978-0-8028-3053-1 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2RVoa4_qX8C&q=apostles+communist+acts&pg=PA39 |via=[[Google Books]]}} {{cite book|first1=Charles John|last1=Ellicott |first2=Edward Hayes |last2=Plumptre |chapter=III. The Church in Jerusalem. I. Christian Communism |title=The Acts of the Apostles |year=1910 |location=London |publisher=Cassell |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Htk8AAAAIAAJ&q=apostles+communist+acts&pg=PA11 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The link was highlighted in one of Marx's early writings, which stated that "[a]s Christ is the intermediary unto whom man unburdens all his divinity, all his religious bonds, so the state is the mediator unto which he transfers all his Godlessness, all his human liberty."<ref>{{cite book |title=Jesus in History, Legend, Scripture, and Tradition: A World Encyclopedia |last1=Houlden |first1=Leslie |author-link1=Leslie Houlden |last2=Minard |first2=Antone |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-61069804-7 |location=Santa Barbara, California |page=357}}</ref>

==== Christian democracy ====
{{Main|Christian democracy}}
The political movement of Christian democracy espouses some values of Christian socialism in the form of [[economic justice]] and [[social welfare]]. It opposes an [[individualist]] worldview and approves [[state intervention]] in the economy in defence of human dignity. Because of its close association with Catholicism, Christian democracy differs from Christian socialism by its emphasis on traditional church and [[family values]], its defence of private property, and by its opposition to excessive state intervention.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web |url=http://0-academic.eb.com.librarycatalog.vts.edu/EBchecked/topic/115089/Christian-democracy |title=Christian Democracy |year=2015 |website=Britannica Academic |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=25 December 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>

Salvatore Talamo, a [[neo-Thomistic]] sociologist and Catholic social theorist, when distinguishing between the conservative and Christian democratic views on labour issues, used ''Christian Socialists'' for the latter; most Christian democrats avoid using ''socialism'', which is occasionally mainly used by conservatives who attempt to discredit their Christian democratic opponents by using a word with Marxist connotations.<ref>{{cite book |last=Agócs |first=Sándor |date=1 December 2017|url=https://digital.library.wayne.edu/item/wayne:WayneStateUniversityPress4253/analysis<!--See also https://digital.library.wayne.edu/item/wayne:WayneStateUniversityPress4253 and https://books.google.com/books?id=waU7DwAAQBAJ--> |title=The Troubled Origins of the Italian Catholic Labor Movement, 1878–1914 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |chapter=Introduction|isbn=978-0-8143-4331-9 }}</ref> Christian democratic parties under various names were formed in Europe and Latin America after World War II. Some, such as in Germany and Italy, became a major political force.<ref name="Britannica"/>

==== Liberation theology ====
{{Main|Liberation theology}}
Liberation theology is a synthesis of [[Christian theology]] and [[socio-economic]] analyses that emphasizes "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples",<ref>{{cite book|last=Cook|first=Chris|year=1998|title=Dictionary of Historical Terms|edition=2nd|publisher=Gramercy|page=203|isbn=978-0-517188712}}</ref> as well as "the oppressed and maimed and blind and lame", and bring the "good news to the poor".<ref>{{cite book|last=Alves |first=Rubem |year=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_65XWzMCx8UC|title=Towards a Theology of Liberation |edition=paperback|publisher=Princeton Theological Seminary|isbn=978-0-8834-4542-6}}</ref> Beginning in the 1960s after the [[Second Vatican Council]],<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/10625 | title = Liberation theology is still alive and well|last=Altmann|first=Walter|date=18 November 2009|work=Ekklesia |access-date=23 January 2010}}</ref> it became the political [[Praxis (process)|praxis]] of [[Latin American liberation theologians]], such as [[Gustavo Gutiérrez]], [[Leonardo Boff]], and [[Jesuits]] like [[Juan Luis Segundo]] and [[Jon Sobrino]], who popularized the phrase "[[preferential option for the poor]]". This expression was used first by Jesuit Father General [[Pedro Arrupe]] in 1968, and the [[World Synod of Catholic Bishops]] in 1971 chose as its theme "[[Justice in the World]]" for the [[Second Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dault |first=Kira |date=January 2015 |title=What is the preferential option for the poor? |url=https://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201501/what-preferential-option-poor-29649 |journal=[[Claretians#Publications|U.S. Catholic]] |volume=80 |pages=46}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=17 October 2016 |title=In 1971, the bishops sounded a call for justice |url=https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/1971-bishops-sounded-call-justice |access-date=10 July 2020 |website=[[National Catholic Reporter]]}}</ref>

The Latin American context produced evangelical advocates of liberation theology, such as [[Rubem Alves]],<ref>{{cite book|last=McGrath|first=Alister E |title= The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Christian thought |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=1995|page=331|isbn=0-631-19896-2}} See also "Christian socialism".</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last = Linhares | first = Bruno J | title = Princeton Theological Seminary and the Birth of Liberation Theology | journal = Koinonia | volume = 19 | pages = 85–105 | publisher = Princeton Theological Seminary  | location = Princeton | year = 2007 | issn = 1047-1057 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Rubem Alves&nbsp;– Liberation Theology Pioneer |publisher=Critical Therapy Center |location=New York |date=19 July 2014 |url=http://criticaltherapy.org/rubem-alves-liberation-theology-pioneer/ |access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref> [[José Míguez Bonino]],<ref>{{cite book |last=McKim |first=Donald K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S3lKAwAAQBAJ |title=The Bible in Theology and Preaching |date=5 May 1999 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |page=170|isbn=978-1-57910-244-9 }}</ref> and [[C. René Padilla]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Carter |first=Jason A. |editor1-last=Hutchinson |editor1-first=Mark P. |title=The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions|volume=V: The Twentieth Century: Themes and Variations in a Global Context |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-870225-2 |page=214 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yrNwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA214 |chapter=Preaching in the Global South}}</ref> who called for [[integral mission]] in the 1970s, emphasizing [[evangelism]] and [[social responsibility]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Kirkpatrick |first=David C. |title=Died: C. René Padilla, Father of Integral Mission |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/april/rene-padilla-died-integral-mission-latin-american-theology.html |access-date=27 April 2021 |work=Christianity Today |date=27 April 2021}}</ref> Theologies of liberation have developed in other parts of the world, such as [[black theology]] in the United States and South Africa,<ref>{{cite book |last=Bongmba |first=Elias |title=The Oxford encyclopedia of African thought |date=2010 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |others=Abiola Irele, Biodun Jeyifo |isbn=978-0-19-533473-9 |volume=1 |location=New York |pages=46–53 |chapter=African Theology |oclc=428033171 |quote=Liberation, contextual, and black theologies are prophetic theologies that emerged in South African in response to the long domination under apartheid ... the Black Consciousness Movement and Black Theology in the United States provided inspiration to the development of black theology in South Africa. }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Howard |first=C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dTRvBAAAQBAJ |title=Black Theology as Mass Movement |date=2014-04-16 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-36875-1 |page=95}}</ref> [[Palestinian liberation theology]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Wessels |first=Antonie |title=Arab and Christian? Christians in the Middle East |publisher=Kok Pharos Publishing House |year=1995 |isbn=978-90-390-0071-7 |location=Kampen, Netherlands |pages=203–227}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Ateek |first=Naim |author-link=Naim Ateek |date=24 March 2014 |title=Land and Liberation: An Interview with Reverend Naim Ateek |url=https://rabbibrant.com/2014/03/24/land-and-liberation-an-interview-with-reverend-naim-ateek/ |access-date=29 October 2016 |website=Shalom Rav |interviewer-last=Rosen |interviewer-first=Brant |interviewer-link=Brant Rosen}}</ref> [[Dalit theology]] in India,<ref>{{cite book |last=Rao |first=Anand |title=Soteriologies of India and Their Role in the Perception of Disability: A Comparative Transdisciplinary Overview with Reference to Hinduism and Christianity in India |publisher=LIT Verlag |year=2004 |isbn=3-8258-7205-X |location=Berlin-Hamburg-Münster |page=232 |oclc=54973643}}</ref> and [[Minjung theology]] in South Korea.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wickeri |first=Philip L. |author-link=Philip L. Wickeri |date=1985 |title=Asian Theologies in Review |url=https://www.ptsem.edu/academics/theology/overview |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050211084644/http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1985/v41-4-tabletalk2.htm |archive-date=11 February 2005 |access-date=14 January 2023 |website=Theology Today |page=461 |volume=41}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Suh |first=David Kwang-sun |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYpKAwAAQBAJ |title=The Korean Minjung in Christ |date=15 August 2000 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-57910-509-9 |page=17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Dabashi |first=Hamid |author-link=Hamid Dabashi |date=6 January 2020 |title=Decolonising Jesus Christ: The Figure of Jesus Christ Goes Way Beyond the Image of Him Which Hegemonic European Christianity Imposed on the World |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/1/6/decolonising-jesus-christ |access-date=24 March 2021 |website=Al Jazeera |publisher=Al Jazeera Media Network}}</ref>

== In Catholicism ==
{{Main|Catholicism and socialism}}
Communism and socialism have been condemned by [[Pope Pius IX]], [[Pope Leo XIII]], [[Pope Pius X]], [[Pope Benedict XV]], [[Pope Pius XI]], [[Pope Pius XII]], [[Pope John XXIII]], [[Pope Paul VI]], and [[Pope John Paul II]]. Many of these popes, Leo XIII and Pius XI in particular, have also condemned laissez-faire capitalism. [[Pope Benedict XVI]] condemned both ideologies, while distinguishing them from [[democratic socialism]], which he praised. The views of [[Pope Francis]] on the issue have also been called into question, with some arguing he held socialist or communist views, while others argue he did not.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hale |first=Christopher |title=Bernie Sanders is wrong: Pope Francis is no socialist |url=https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/bernie-sanders-wrong-pope-francis-no-socialist |work=[[National Catholic Reporter]] |date=25 February 2016|access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Barnidge |first=Robert P. Jr. |title=Against The Catholic Grain: Pope Francis Trumpets Socialism Over Capitalism |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/03/11/against-the-catholic-grain-pope-francis-trumpets-socialism-over-capitalism/?sh=3d4c64ee42d3 |work=[[Forbes]] |date=11 March 2016|access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref> Pope Francis had denied accusations of him being a communist, including by ''[[The Economist]]'',<ref>{{cite web | last = Pullella | first = Philip |date=29 June 2014|url=http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2014/06/29/pope-francis-says-communists-are-closet-christians-whove-stolen-our-flag/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140707010649/http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2014/06/29/pope-francis-says-communists-are-closet-christians-whove-stolen-our-flag/|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 July 2014|title=Pope Francis: Communists 'stole' the flag of Christianity|website=Reuters Edition International|access-date=27 December 2020}}</ref> calling them a "misinterpretation" of his views. In 2016, Francis criticized [[Marxist]] ideology as wrong but praised communists for "[thinking] like Christians".<ref name="Johnson 2016">{{cite web|last=Johnson |first=Garrett |url=https://catholic-link.org/criticised-for-being-communist-or-to-the-left-heres-pope-francis-response/ |title=Criticised for Being Communist or to the Left, Here's Pope Francis' Response |website=Catholic Link |date=20 May 2016|access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref><ref name="Skojec 2016">{{cite web |title=Pope: 'It is the Communists Who Think Like Christians' |last=Skojec |first=Steve |work=OnePeterFive |date=11 November 2016 |access-date=8 September 2018 |url=https://onepeterfive.com/pope-communists-think-like-christians/}}</ref>
[[File:Adam Mickiewicz według dagerotypu paryskiego z 1842 roku.jpg|thumb|Political views of famous Polish poet [[Adam Mickiewicz]] included visible elements of Christian socialism]]

=== 19th century ===
[[Pope Pius IX]] criticized socialism in his works ''[[Nostis et nobiscum]]'' and ''[[Quanta cura]]''. In his 1849 work ''Nostis et nobiscum'', he referred to communism and socialism as "wicked theories" that confuse people with what he called "perverted teachings".<ref>Pope Pius IX (1849). ''Nostis et nobiscum''. No. 6.</ref> In his 1864 work ''Quanta cura'', he referred to communism and socialism as a "fatal error".<ref>Pope Pius IX (1864). ''Quanta cura''. No. 4.</ref> Communism was later further criticized in the 1878 [[papal encyclical]] ''[[Quod apostolici muneris]]'', by [[Pope Leo XIII]], as he believed that it led to state domination over the freedom of the individual and quelled proper religious worship, inherently turning the top hierarchical power over to the state instead of God. Leo said in this work that socialists steal "the very Gospel itself with a view to deceive more easily the unwary ... [and] distort it so as to suit their own purposes."<ref>Pope Leo XII (1878). ''Quod apostolici muneris''. No. 5.</ref> In the words of academic Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, who refers to the reigns of Pope Pius IX to Pope Pius XII (1850–1950) as the Leonine era, "socialism and communism appear so often in the papal texts of the Leonine era, and with such importance, that they might be described as central foils over and against which the Church is defined and refined over time."<ref>{{cite book |last=Beckett |first=Paul |title=Labour Rights and the Catholic Church: The International Labour Organisation, the Holy See and Catholic Social Teaching |date=13 April 2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-37784-2 |volume=1 |location=London |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tHAdEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT27 27]}}</ref>

In his 1891 encyclical ''[[Rerum novarum]]'', Pope Leo XIII said that socialism acts against natural injustice and destroys the home. He wrote that materialist socialism "must be utterly rejected" by Catholics.<ref>Pope Leo XIII (1891). ''Rerum novarum''. No. 4–5, 14–15.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Tanis |first=Bethany |date=2009 |title=The 'Great Church Crisis,' Public Life, and National Identity in late-Victorian and Edwardian Britain |url=https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:101671/datastream/PDF/view<!--https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:101671--> |access-date=16 January 2023 |website=eScholarship@BC |publisher=Boston College University Libraries |page=50 |quote=The turning point in Roman Catholic social thought occurred in 1891 with the publication of Pope Leo XIII's encyclical ''Rerum Novarum'', in which attacked unrestricted capitalism and supported the rights of workers to organize, although warning against materialist socialism and labor strikes.}}</ref> Leo XIII strongly criticized capitalism. According to historian [[Eamon Duffy]], it was revolutionary in that, as recounted by theologian Paul Misner, up until that point, the Vatican was allied with reactionary institutions and monarchies, and it was the first major statement of the old institutions to discuss the realities of 19th-century society and endorse the working class's grievances. In the words of Duffy, "For the successor of Pio Nono to say these things ... was truly revolutionary. Leo's attack on unrestriced capitalism, his insistence on the duty of state intervention on behalf of the worker, his assertion of the right to a living wage and the rights of organised labour, changed the terms of all future Catholic discussions on social questions, and gave weight and authority to more adventurous advocates of Social Catholicism."<ref>{{cite book |last=Beckett |first=Paul |title=Labour Rights and the Catholic Church: The International Labour Organisation, the Holy See and Catholic Social Teaching |date=13 April 2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-37784-2 |volume=1 |location=London |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tHAdEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT63 63]–64}}</ref>

Many Catholics and non-Catholics used the ''Christian socialists'' label for those who wanted to put ''Rerum novarum'' into practice. The [[Knights of Saint Columbanus]] can trace its origins back to ''Rerum novarum''. The [[labour movement]] in Ireland and the United States traces its origins back to Roman Catholicism and the 1891 encyclical ''Rerum novarum'' and the various subsequent encyclicals it spawned.<ref>{{cite book|last=Connolly|first=James|year=1969|orig-year=1910|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/1910/lnr/index.htm|title=Labour: Nationality & Religion|location=Dublin|publisher=New Books|access-date=14 January 2023|via=Marxists Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="Sinyai 2019">{{cite web|last=Sinyai|first=Clayton|date=15 May 2019|title=Happy Birthday, Rerum Novarum!|publisher=The Catholic Labor Network|url=https://catholiclabor.org/happy-birthday-rerum-novarum/|access-date=5 August 2020}}</ref> The [[Starry Plough (flag)|Starry Plough]], a symbol associated with socialism in Ireland, was designed with an explicit reference to Catholicism in mind.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Starry Plough Flag|website=Irish Studies|url=https://irishstudies.sunygeneseoenglish.org/the-starry-plough-flag/|date=2018|access-date=5 August 2020}}</ref> The right to association, such as the creation of and involvement in [[trade unions]] and [[co-operatives]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Kerr|first=David|title=Pope Benedict: cooperatives help humanize the economy|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/23943/pope-benedict-cooperatives-help-humanize-the-economy|date=10 December 2011|access-date=5 August 2020|website=Catholic News Agency}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=20 March 2015|title=Pope Francis calls for co-operatives to build a more honest economy |url=https://www.ica.coop/en/media/news/pope-francis-calls-co-operatives-build-more-honest-economy|access-date=5 August 2020|publisher=International Cooperative Alliance}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Considine|first=Kevin P.|date=2 February 2016|title=Does the church support unions?|url=https://uscatholic.org/articles/201602/does-the-church-support-unions/|access-date=5 August 2020|website=U.S. Catholic}}</ref> are regarded as a core part of Roman Catholic social teaching.<ref name="Sinyai 2019" /><ref>{{cite web|author=Pope Francis|date=24 May 2015|title=Laudato si'|url=http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html|access-date=5 August 2020|publisher=The Holy See}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=13 May 2016|title=Catholic social teachings call to the dignity of creation|url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/catholic-social-teachings-call-dignity-creation|access-date=5 August 2020|website=National Catholic Reporter}}</ref>

=== 20th century ===
In 1901, Leo XIII in his encyclical ''[[Graves de communi re]]'' referred to socialism as a "harvest of misery".<ref>Pope Leo XII (1901). ''Graves de communi re''. No. 21.</ref> In 1910, [[Pope Pius X]] criticized socialism in his Apostolic letter ''[[Notre charge apostolique]]'', predicting that the rise of socialism will be "a tumultuous agitation".<ref>Pope Pius X (1910). ''Notre charge apostolique''.</ref> In 1914, [[Pope Benedict XV]] wrote his encyclical, ''[[Ad beatissimi Apostolorum]]'', which reaffirmed the anti-socialist stance of the Catholic Church, calling on Catholics to remember "the errors of Socialism and of similar doctrines", as taught by his predecessors.<ref>Pope Benedict XV (1914). ''Ad beatissimi Apostolorum''. No. 13.</ref>

In 1931, [[Pope Pius XI]] wrote his work ''[[Quadragesimo anno]]'', wherein Pius described the major dangers for human freedom and dignity arising from unrestrained [[capitalism]] and [[totalitarian]] communism.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Badie |editor-first1=Bertrand |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t0JZp-jrotQC |title=International Encyclopedia of Political Science |editor-last2=Berg-Schlosser |editor-first2=Dirk |editor-last3=Morlino |editor-first3=Leonardo |date=7 September 2011 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-1-4129-5963-6 |volume=1 |location=Thousand Oaks |page=461}}</ref> Pius XI called upon true socialism to distance itself from totalitarian communism as a matter of clarity and also as a matter of principle. Communists were accused of attempting to overthrow all existing civil society. It was argued that Christian socialism, if allied to communism, was deemed to be an [[oxymoron]] because of this.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=8 July 1957 |title=Socialism & the Vatican |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,825096,00.html |url-access=subscription |magazine=Time |volume=70 |issue=2 |page=19 |access-date=4 June 2016 |archive-date=10 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160710202808/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,825096,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> At the time, Pius XI famously wrote: "Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist."<ref>{{cite book |last=Beckett |first=Paul |title=Labour Rights and the Catholic Church: The International Labour Organisation, the Holy See and Catholic Social Teaching |date=13 April 2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-37784-2 |volume=1 |location=London |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tHAdEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT28 28]}}</ref>

Some prominent Catholic socialists existed during Pope Pius XI's era, including the American anarchist [[Dorothy Day]] who advocated for [[distributism]] and the Irish priest [[Michael O'Flanagan]] who was suspended for his political beliefs.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=McKay|editor-first=Iain|date=1 April 2008|title=An Anarchist FAQ|volume=1|location=Oakland, California|publisher=AK Press|page=75|isbn=978-1902593906}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Moran |first=James |date=21 November 2013|title=The Theatre of Sean O'Casey |edition=paperback|location=London|publisher=A&C Black |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9b5LAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 130]|isbn=978-1-4081-7535-4}} See also "Fr. Michael O'Flanagan, letters, 1915–1920". Letter from Bishop Bernard Coyne to Father Michael O'Flanagan.</ref> In 1931, it was clarified that a Catholic was free to vote for the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], the British affiliate of the [[Socialist International]].<ref>{{cite news |date=18 June 1931 |title=Says Pope Puts No Bar on Joining Laborites; Cardinal Bourne Says Britons Are Free to Enter Party and Be Guided by Conscience |page=7 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/06/18/archives/says-pope-puts-no-bar-on-joining-laborites-cardinal-bourne-says.html |access-date=14 January 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Later in 1937, Pius XI rejected atheistic communism in an [[encyclical]] entitled ''[[Divini Redemptoris]]'' as "a system full of errors and sophisms", with a "pseudo-ideal of justice, equality, and fraternity" and "a certain false mysticism",<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/la-condanna-dei-comunisti-del-1949_(Cristiani-d'Italia)/|publisher=Traccani|encyclopedia=Cristiani d'Italia|last=Ruggieri|first=Giuseppe|year=2011|title=La condanna dei comunisti del 1949|language=it|access-date=August 28, 2016}}</ref> and contrasted it with a humane society (''civitas humana'').<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OvnjCQAAQBAJ&q=l'osservatore%20romano%20july%2015%201948&pg=PR48|title=50 Years On: Probing the Riches of Vatican II|page=xlviii|last=Scholsser|first=Stephen|chapter=Reproach vs. Rapprochement|editor=David Schultenover|publisher=Liturgical Press|year=2015|isbn=9780814683019|access-date=27 August 2016}}</ref>

In 1949, [[Pope Pius XII]] issued the [[Decree against Communism]], which declared Catholics who professed communist doctrine to be [[Excommunication (Catholic Church)|excommunicated]] as apostates from the Christian faith.<ref>{{cite news|date=14 July 1949|title=Papal Decree Against Communism|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/07/14/archives/papal-decree-against-communism.html|access-date=17 May 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1952, when referring to socialism, Pius XII stated: "The Church will fight this battle to the end, for it is a question of supreme values: the dignity of man and the salvation of souls."<ref>Pope Pius XII (14 September 1952). ''Radio message to the Katholikentag of Vienna''.</ref> In 1959, the Holy Office was asked if it is permitted for Catholics to vote for parties or candidates "who, even if they do not profess principles contrary to Catholic doctrine and, indeed, also claim for themselves the name Christian, nevertheless, in reality, associate themselves with the Communists and support them with their course of action". The response, affirmed by [[Pope John XXIII]], was: "No, according to the directive of the Decree of the Holy Office of July 1, 1949, no." (Decree against Communism).<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Response of the Holy Office, March 25 (April 4), 1959 (Communism) |page=818 |first1=Heinrich |last1=Denzinger |title=Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals |editor1=Helmut Hoping |editor2=Peter Hünermann |editor3=Robert Fastigii |editor4=Anne Englund Nash |edition=43rd |publisher=Ignatius Press |location=San Francisco |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-89870-746-5}}</ref> This extended the Degree against Communism to Italian socialist parties, although the same year [[La Civiltà Cattolica]] wrote that collaboration with non-Marxist socialists may be permissible.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Italian Catholic Church and Communism, 1943-1963 |author=Elisa A. Carrillo |journal=The Catholic Historical Review |volume=77 |issue=4 |year=1991 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |jstor=25023639 |page=653}}</ref> On 15 May 1961, John XXIII promulgated the encyclical ''[[Mater et magistra]]'', which reaffirmed the Church's anti-socialist stances. John XXIII wrote:

{{blockquote|"Pope Pius XI further emphasized the fundamental opposition between Communism and Christianity, and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism. The reason is that Socialism is founded on a doctrine of human society which is bounded by time and takes no account of any objective other than that of material well-being. Since, therefore, it proposes a form of social organization which aims solely at production, it places too severe a restraint on human liberty, at the same time flouting the true notion of social authority."<ref>{{cite web|author=Pope John XXIII|date=15 May 1961|url=http://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_15051961_mater.html |title=Mater et Magistra|publisher=The Holy See|access-date=11 January 2023}}</ref>}}

Nonetheless, Pope John XXIII helped the [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy]] party to cooperate with the [[Italian Socialist Party]], as part of the Catholic open up to the left.<ref>{{cite book |last=Driessen |first=Michael D. |title=Religion and Democratization: Framing Religious and Political Identities in Muslim and Catholic Societies |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=<!--15 May-->2014 |isbn=9780199329700 |location=Oxford |pages=91–134 |chapter=Religion and Democratization in Italy |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199329700.003.0005}}</ref>

In Chile, many Catholics supported the democratic president [[Salvador Allende]], and a group of Catholic priests and faithful founded the group [[Christians for Socialism]], which supported the president and argued that socialism is closer to Catholic values than capitalism. In a meeting organized by the group in April 1972 attended by over 400 Catholic priests and nuns, the participants issued a declaration calling for official Catholic support for socialism, argued that Christians are obliged to involve themselves in the revolutionary process, and called for class struggle.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Christians and Marxists in Allende's Chile: Lessons for western Europe |first=Brian H. |last=Smith |year=1982 |journal=West European Politics |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=108–126 |doi=10.1080/01402388208424360}}</ref> The group also cited the words of Chilean papal prelate [[Raúl Silva Henríquez]], who stated: "There are more of the Gospel's values in socialism than there are in capitalism."<ref>{{cite news |title=Raul Silva Henriquez Dies |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/04/11/raul-silva-henriquez-dies/14b73654-6134-4dca-bd76-b44d9840fec2/ |accessdate=7 June 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=11 April 1999}}</ref> In May 1971, Chilean bishops released a pastoral letter "The Gospel, Politics, and Socialisms" ({{langx|es|Evangelio, politica, y socialismos}}), which stated that while the Catholic Church could not endorse a specific political ideology, socialism is not incompatible with Catholic teaching and might be seen as a direct application of Catholic principles. At the same time, Chilean bishops warned that Catholics must reject variants of socialism that are based on atheism or a materialistic view of history, as these were elements incompatible with the teaching of the Church.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Revolution, Counterrevolution, and the Catholic Church in Chile |first=Paul E. |last=Sigmund |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=483 |year=1986 |pages=25–35 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1045537 |publisher=Sage Publications, Inc. |doi=10.1177/0002716286483001003 |jstor=1045537 |department=Religion and the State: The Struggle for Legitimacy and Power|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In 1971, [[Pope Paul VI]] wrote the [[Ecclesiastical letter#Letters of the popes in modern times|Apostolic Letter]], ''[[Octogesima adveniens]]''. About Christians and socialism, he wrote: "Too often Christians attracted by socialism tend to idealize it in terms which, apart from anything else, are very general: a will for justice, solidarity and equality. They refuse to recognize the limitations of the historical socialist movements, which remain conditioned by the ideologies from which they originated."<ref>{{cite web|author=Pope Paul VI|date=14 May 1971|title=Octogesima Adveniens|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_letters/documents/hf_p-vi_apl_19710514_octogesima-adveniens.html|access-date=17 May 2021|publisher=The Holy See}}</ref> Pope John Paul II criticized socialism in his 1991 encyclical ''[[Centesimus annus]]''. He wrote:

{{blockquote|"The fundamental error of socialism is anthropological in nature. Socialism considers the individual person simply as an element, a molecule within the social organism, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinated to the functioning of the socio-economic mechanism. Socialism likewise maintains that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice, to the unique and exclusive responsibility which he exercises in the face of good or evil. Man is thus reduced to a series of social relationships, and the concept of the person as the autonomous subject of moral decision disappears, the very subject whose decisions build the social order. From this mistaken conception of the person there arise both a distortion of law, which defines the sphere of the exercise of freedom, and an opposition to private property. A person who is deprived of something he can call 'his own', and of the possibility of earning a living through his own initiative, comes to depend on the social machine and on those who control it. This makes it much more difficult for him to recognize his dignity as a person, and hinders progress towards the building up of an authentic human community."<ref>{{cite web|author=Pope John Paul II|date=1 May 1991|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_01051991_centesimus-annus.html |title=Centesimus Annus|publisher=The Holy See|access-date=11 January 2023}}</ref>}}

The 1992 ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'', also promulgated by Pope John Paul II, condemns socialism as an atheistic ideology. Paragraph 2425 states:

{{blockquote|"The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with 'communism' or 'socialism.' She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of 'capitalism,' individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor. Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of social bonds; regulating it solely by the law of the marketplace fails social justice, for 'there are many human needs which cannot be satisfied by the market.' Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2425.htm |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church – Paragraph # 2425|work=Catechism of the Catholic Church|date=1992|access-date=11 January 2023}}</ref>}}

=== 21st century ===
In 2004, Joseph Ratzinger, the future [[Pope Benedict XVI]], addressed the Italian Senate, declaring that "[i]n many respects democratic socialism was and is close to Catholic social doctrine; in any case, it contributed toward the formation of a social consciousness."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Pera|first1=Marcello|last2=Ratzinger|first2=Joseph|date=13 May 2004|url=https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/without-roots-the-west-relativism-christianity-islam.html|title=Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam|website=Catholic Education|access-date=15 September 2020}}</ref> In 2005, Benedict XVI in his encyclical ''[[Deus caritas est]]'' stated: "We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. The Church is one of those living forces. ... In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man ... a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human."<ref>{{cite web |author=Pope Benedict XVI |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est.html |title=Deus caritas est |date=25 December 2005 |publisher=The Holy See |access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref> In 2007, Benedict XVI criticized [[Karl Marx]] in his encyclical ''[[Spe salvi]]'', stating that "[w]ith the victory of the revolution, though, Marx's fundamental error also became evident. He showed precisely how to overthrow the existing order, but he did not say how matters should proceed thereafter. ... He forgot that freedom always remains also freedom for evil. He thought that once the economy had been put right, everything would automatically be put right. His real error is materialism: man, in fact, is not merely the product of economic conditions, and it is not possible to redeem him purely from the outside by creating a favourable economic environment."<ref>{{cite web|author=Pope Benedict XVI|date=30 November 2007|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi.html|title=Spe salvi|publisher=The Holy See|access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref>

[[Pope Francis]] has been viewed as having some sympathy to socialist causes, with his frequent [[criticism of capitalism]] and of [[neoliberalism]]. In 2016, Francis said that the world economy is "[f]undamental terrorism, against all of Humanity",<ref name="Knight2016">{{cite web |title=Pope Francis: Capitalism is 'Terrorism Against All of Humanity' |last=Knight |first=Nika |work=Common Dreams |date=2 August 2016 |access-date=8 September 2018 |url=https://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/08/02/pope-francis-capitalism-terrorism-against-all-humanity}}</ref> and that "[i]f anything, it is the communists who think like Christians. Christ spoke of a society where the poor, the weak and the marginalized have the right to decide."<ref name="Skojec 2016"/> When later questioned on whether or not he is a [[communist]], Francis responded: "As for whether or not I'm a communist: I am sure that I have not said anything more than what the Church's social doctrine teaches ... maybe the impression of being a little more 'of the left' has been given, but that would be a misinterpretation."<ref name="Johnson 2016"/> In 2013, he said: "The ideology of Marxism is wrong. But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don't feel offended."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/15/pope-francis-defends-criticism-of-capitalism-not-marxist |title=Pope says he is not a Marxist, but defends criticism of capitalism |first=Lizzy |last=Davies |date=15 December 2013 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=28 May 2015}}</ref>

Movements like [[liberation theology]] argue for the compatibility of socialism and Catholicism; they have been rejected by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Case Against Liberation Theology|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/21/magazine/the-case-against-liberation-theology.html|work=The New York Times|date=21 October 1984|access-date=11 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Benedict XVI: Liberation Theology was mere 'millenarism' that would have no justification today. |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/9321/benedict-xvi-liberation-theology-was-mere-millenarism-that-would-have-no-justification-today |work=[[Catholic News Agency]] |date=9 May 2007|access-date=11 January 2023}}</ref> [[António Guterres]], a practicing Catholic and [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]] since 2017, is the immediate past president of the [[Socialist International]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Borger|first1= Julian |last2=Chrisafis|first2= Angelique |date=1 January 2017 |title=Will António Guterres be the UN's best ever secretary general? |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/01/will-antonio-guterres-be-the-uns-best-ever-secretary-general |access-date=18 January 2023 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

== In Calvinism ==
=== Australia ===
In Australia, the academic [[Roland Boer]] has attempted to synthesize Calvinism and Marxism.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/roland-boer|url-status=dead|title=Professor Roland Boer|publisher=University of Newcastle|date=2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925115921/https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/roland-boer|archive-date=25 September 2018|access-date=21 January 2023|quote='There is a tradition within Marxism of engagement with religion that is usually characterised as atheistic and disinterested, but I argue there is a continuous stream of major Marxist figures who have written on questions of religion and engaged specifically with the Bible or with theological debate,' Boer said. 'Some people contend that Marxism borrowed its main ideas from Christianity and Judaism and reconstructed them as secular ideology, but I think that is extremely simplistic – the relationship is much more complex.'}} See also {{cite web |date=13 December 2013 |title=Left of his field |url=https://www.newcastle.edu.au/highlights/our-researchers/education-arts/humanities-social-science/left-of-his-field |access-date=28 November 2022 |website=Newcastle.edu.au |publisher=Newcastle University |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331231902/https://www.newcastle.edu.au/highlights/our-researchers/education-arts/humanities-social-science/left-of-his-field |url-status=dead }}</ref> In a 2010 interview, he stated that "it became clear to me that within Christianity there is a strong tradition of political and theological radicalism, which I continued to explore personally. Reformed or Calvinist theology did not seem to sit easily with that interest, so I spent many a long year rejecting that tradition, only to realise later that Calvin himself was torn between the radical potential of elements in the Bible and his own conservative preferences."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://poserorprophet.wordpress.com/2010/12/24/an-interview-with-roland-boer-on-marxism-and-theology/ |title=An Interview with Roland Boer (On Marxism and Theology) |last=Oudshoorn |first=Dan |date=24 December 2010 |website=On Journeying with those in Exile |access-date=4 June 2016}}</ref>

=== France ===
In France, the birthplace of [[Calvinism]], the ''Christianisme Social'' (Social Christianity) movement emerged in the 1870s from the preaching of [[Tommy Fallot]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museeprotestant.org/en/notice/social-christianity/ |title=Social Christianity |website=Virtual Museum of Protestantism |publisher=Fondation pasteur Eugène Bersier |access-date=4 June 2016}}</ref> Early on, the movement focused on such issues as illiteracy and alcoholism amongst the poor.<ref name="France Culture 2010">{{cite web |url=http://www.franceculture.fr/emission-service-protestant-la-relance-du-christianisme-social-2010-07-18.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140826184138/http://www.franceculture.fr/emission-service-protestant-la-relance-du-christianisme-social-2010-07-18.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 August 2014 |title=La relance du christianisme social |year=2010 |website=France Culture |publisher=[[Radio France]] |language=fr |trans-title=The Revival of Social Christianity |access-date=4 June 2016 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> After the First World War, Social Christianity moved in two directions—towards pacifism and towards ecumenism. Within the movement emerged conscientious objectors, such as [[Jacques Martin (pacifist)|Jacques Martin]], Philo Vernier, and Henri Roser, economists pursuing policies that reflected cooperation and solidarity, such as Bernard Lavergne and Georges Lasserre, and theologians like [[Paul Ricoeur]]. One of the pastors in the movement, Jacques Kaltenbach, was also to have a formative influence on [[André Trocmé]].{{sfn|Chalamet|2013}}

Under the Vichy regime, which had seen the emergence of other forms of witness, particularly the support of internees in the camps and aiding Jews to escape, the movement was reborn to tackle the problems of a changing world. It expressed a Christian socialism, more or less in line with the beginning of a new political left. Political activism was very broad and included the denunciation of torture, East–West debate on European integration and taking a stance on the process of decolonization. It facilitated meetings between employers, managers, and trade unionists to discern a new economic order. After the events of [[May 68]], Calvinism in France became much more left-wing in its orientation.<ref name="Wells 1988">{{cite magazine |last=Wells |first=Paul |date=May 1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kBtZ5WdrI8C&pg=PA14|title=L'Église C'est Moi: The French Churches and the 'Me' Generation |magazine=Third Way |volume=11 |issue=5 |location=London |publisher=Hymns Ancient & Modern |pages=14–16 |access-date=4 June 2016}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

One doctrinal text produced in the 1960s, ''Church and Authorities'', was described as Marxist in its orientation.<ref name="Wells 1988" /> Churches now seized for themselves the political and social issues to tackle, such as nuclear power and justice for the Third World. In the early 2000s, the Social Christianity movement temporarily discontinued and its journal ''Other Times'' ceased to be published.<ref name="France Culture 2010" /> The movement was relaunched on 10 June 2010 with a petition signed by over 240 people,<ref name="France Culture 2010" /> and now maintains an active presence with its own website.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.christianismesocial.org |title=Accueil |website=...Se réclamant du christianisme social |language=fr |trans-title=Welcome |access-date=5 June 2016}}</ref> Economically, most Calvinists have supported capitalism and have been in the vanguard of promoting free-market capitalism, and have produced many of France's leading entrepreneurs.<ref name="The Economist 1998">{{cite magazine |date=16 April 1998 |title=Prim but Punchy |url=https://www.economist.com/europe/1998/04/16/prim-but-punchy |url-access=limited |magazine=[[The Economist]] |volume=346 |issue=8064 |page=48 |access-date=4 June 2016}}</ref> With regard to politics and social issues, they are socialists.<ref name="Wells 1988" /> Three of France's post-war prime ministers have been Calvinists, despite [[Protestants]] only making up two percent of the population. Two of these prime ministers have been socialists.<ref name="The Economist 1998" />

=== Germany ===
In 1899, the well-known Protestant theologians [[Christoph Blumhardt]], a [[Pietism|Pietist]], and in 1900 Paul Göhre, a liberal, independently joined the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]]. Thus, a movement began to emerge that found its expression and form in religious socialism. From the very beginning, religious socialists came from a wide variety of theological camps across the [[Christianity and Judaism|Jewish-Christian spectrum]]. In Germany, one of the hallmarks of religious socialism was that it did not create a new theological movement. After World War I, groups of religious socialists formed in Baden, Thuringia, the Rhineland, and northern Germany. In December 1919, the first organization, called the League of Religious Socialists, was founded in Berlin, and others soon followed. In 1924, these regional associations merged to form a working group, and in 1926, the [[League of Religious Socialists of Germany]] (BRSD) was created. This group still exists today.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-13 |title=Historie - BRSD e.V.{{!}} Bund der religiösen Sozialisten |url=https://brsd.de/historie/ |access-date=2025-06-02 |language=de}}</ref>

=== Wales ===
In Wales, [[Calvinistic Methodism]] is the largest non-conformist religion. Its beginnings may be traced to [[Griffith Jones (Llanddowror)|Griffith Jones]] (1684–1761), of Llanddowror, [[Carmarthenshire]], whose sympathy for the poor led him to set on foot a system of circulating charity schools for the education of children. Until the 19th century, the prevailing thought amongst Welsh non-conformists was that "it would be wiser if the churches limited their activities to those of the altar and not to meddle at all with the state and social questions." This stemmed partly from the traditional nonconformist belief in the separation of church and state.{{sfn|Llwyd|2015|p=3}}

In his influential sermon ''Y Ddwy Alwedigaeth'' (''The Two Vocations''), [[Emrys ap Iwan]] challenged this passive pietism. He wrote: "We must not think, like the old Methodists, Puritans and some Catholics, that we can only seek Godliness outside our earthly vocation." He condemned those Christians who limited godliness to directly religious matters such as Sabbath observance and personal devotion. He declared that all earthly things, including language and culture, have some kind of divine origin.{{sfn|Llwyd|2015|p=4}} Many of the founders of the Welsh nationalist social-democratic party, [[Plaid Cymru]], were also Calvinists, including [[John Edward Daniel]]. Daniel was the theologian credited for bringing [[neo-orthodoxy]] to Wales. Daniel argued that God did not create man as an isolated individual but as a social being.{{sfn|Llwyd|2015|p=4}} The second generation of Plaid Cymru leaders included [[R. Tudur Jones]]. His political stance, combined with Calvinist doctrine, created an integrated vision that was significant to the religious life of Christian Wales in the later half of the 20th century.{{sfn|Davies|Jenkins|Baines|Lynch|2008}} Jones argued that the "state should be a servant, to preserve order and to allow men to live the good life."{{sfn|Llwyd|2015|p=5}}

The Calvinist tradition in Plaid Cymru influenced its non-violent approach. According to Rhys Llwyd, "[t]he ideal is no fist violence, no verbal violence, and no heart violence. ... Christians ... point to the New Testament example of Jesus Christ clearing the temple. Here there is no suggestion of violence against people; rather the tables are turned as a symbolic act. The life and teaching of Jesus Christ were seen as the foundations of nonviolent direct action [for Plaid Cymru members] ... loving their enemies on the one hand, but not compromising on what they saw as an issue of moral rightness."{{sfn|Llwyd|2015|p=6}} Plaid Cymru continues to see itself as very much part of the [[Christian pacifist]] tradition.{{sfn|Llwyd|2015|p=7}}

== In Methodism ==
Christian Socialism found a prominent home within [[Methodism]], stemming directly from the social ethos established by founder John Wesley, who vigorously championed social justice causes such as prison reform and the abolition of slavery. In the United Kingdom, Methodists were notably active in the formation of the early Labour movement and the Labour Party is often cited as owing more to Methodism's social conscience than to Marxist ideology. Influential figures like the Methodist minister and Labour peer [[Donald Soper]] advocated Christian Socialist principles, linking the religious call for social holiness to systemic reform<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abraham |first1=William James |title=Methodism: A Very Short Introduction |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-880231-0 |pages=51–56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiiPDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>. This commitment is rooted in the belief that the Christian gospel demands a challenge to economic systems like unrestrained capitalism, which many Christian socialists find to be rooted in greed and incompatible with the principles of human dignity and collective responsibility. This history of social activism continues to influence contemporary Methodist churches, which often emphasize a mandate for social justice and advocate for government responsibility in ensuring basic human rights and welfare.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coren |first1=Michael |title=Reclaiming Faith: Inclusion, Grace, and Tolerance |date=20 November 2019 |publisher=Cormorant Books |isbn=978-1-77086-565-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wm4rEAAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=Maclean's, December 27, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Christian Socialism in Victorian England |url=https://victorianweb.org/history/socialism/christiansocialism.html |access-date=2025-12-06 |website=victorianweb.org}}</ref>

== Notable Christian socialist people and groups ==
{{main category|Christian socialists}}
Notable followers of Christian socialism include:
* [[John Archer (New Zealand politician)|John Archer]], New Zealand politician. He was a former [[mayor of Christchurch]] and president of the [[New Zealand Labour Party]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Gustafson |first1=Barry |author-link1=Barry Gustafson |year=2012 |orig-year=1996 |title=Archer, John Kendrick |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3a17/archer-john-kendrick |department=[[Dictionary of New Zealand Biography]] |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=4 June 2016}}</ref>
* [[Adin Ballou]], American proponent of [[Christian nonresistance]]. He was a [[socialist]] within the [[Christian anarchist]] tradition.<ref name="Sartwell 2018"/>
* [[Francis Bellamy]], American [[Baptist]] minister. He was the original author of the [[Pledge of Allegiance]].<ref name="Dorn 2017"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/bellamy_f/bellamy_f.html |title=Grand Lodge of BC and Yukon profile of Bellamy |publisher=Freemasonry.bcy.ca |access-date=19 January 2023}}</ref>
* [[Tony Benn]], British politician. He was a parliamentarian and campaigner for Britain's [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Sydney Higgins|title=The Benn Inheritance: The Story of a Radical Family|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1aRhQgAACAAJ |year=1984 |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |isbn=978-0-297-78524-8}} Quoted in {{cite news|last1=Brown |first1=Rob |title=Vital key to the real Tony Benn |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vMtAAAAAIBAJ&pg=4768%2C5509048 |access-date=4 May 2016 |work=[[The Glasgow Herald]] |date=27 September 1984|page=8}}</ref>
* [[William Dwight Porter Bliss]], American [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] priest. He was also a writer, editor, and socialist activist.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Webber |first=Christopher L. |year=1959 |title=William Dwight Porter Bliss (1856–1926): Priest and Socialist |journal=Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=9–39 |issn=2377-5289 |jstor=42972716}}</ref>
* [[Sergei Bulgakov]], Russian priest, philosopher, and economist. He was a [[Russian Orthodox Christian]] theologian.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://yqyq.net/5485-Sergeiy_Nikolaevich_Bulgakov.html |title=Sergei Bulgakov |url-status=dead|work=Yqyq.net |year=2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121052705/http://yqyq.net/5485-Sergeiy_Nikolaevich_Bulgakov.html|archive-date=21 January 2012|access-date=9 December 2011}}</ref>
* [[Hélder Câmara]], Brazilian bishop. A self-identified socialist, he was part of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Olinda e Recife]].<ref>{{cite news |last=O'Shaughnessy|first=Hugh|date=13 October 2009|title=Helder Câmara – Brazil's archbishop of the poor |url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/oct/13/brazil-helder-camara |access-date=19 January 2023 |work=The Guardian |quote=The late archbishop's place in history will be heavily influenced by one of his more memorable sayings. 'When I feed the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why so many people are poor they call me a communist.' That is the sort of quotation that Lula must be thinking he should have made.}}</ref>
* [[Hugo Chávez]], former [[President of Venezuela]]. He linked socialism and the teachings of Jesus.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lustig |first1=Robin |title=Hugo Chavez: Charming provocateur |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4359924.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=16 March 2019 |date=20 October 2005}}</ref>
* [[Percy Dearmer]], English priest and liturgist. He was a lifelong socialist.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Southwell |first1=F. R. |last2=Barry |first2=F. R. |last3=Gray |first3=Donald |author3-link=Donald Gray (priest) |year=2004 |title=Dearmer, Percy (1867–1936) |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |edition=online |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32763}}</ref>
* [[Tommy Douglas]], Canadian politician and Baptist minister. He was the [[premier of Saskatchewan]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Thomas |editor-first=Lewis |year=1982 |title=The Making of a Socialist: The Recollections of T.C. Douglas |location=Edmonton |publisher=The [[University of Alberta Press]] |isbn=978-0-88864-070-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/makingofsocialis00doug}}</ref>
* [[Marion Howard Dunham]], American teacher, activist, and suffragist. She was corresponding secretary of the Women's National Socialist Union.<ref name="TheComrade-1903">{{cite journal |last1=Abbott |first1=Wenonah Stevens |title=The Women's National Socialist Union |journal=The Comrade: An Illustrated Socialist Monthly |date=1903 |volume=2 |issue=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ygrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA4 |access-date=5 August 2022 |publisher=Comrade Publishing Company}}</ref>
* [[Frederick James Furnivall]], English philologist. He is one of the co-creators of the ''[[New English Dictionary]]''.<ref name="Peterson 2007"/>
* [[William Gadsby]], [[English people|English]] [[Strict Baptist]] [[pastor]] and [[Hymnwriter|hymn writer]] and [[Church planting|church planter]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2011-10-21 |title=William Gadsby's Deep Concern for the Suffering |url=https://testallthings.com/2011/10/21/william-gadsbys-deep-concern-for-the-suffering/ |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=Test All Things |language=en}}</ref><ref name="GarrettPage198">{{cite book |last=Garrett |first=James Leo jr |author-link=James Leo Garrett Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=epEHq0mTsKgC&pg=PA198 |title=Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study |publisher=[[Mercer University Press]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-88146-129-9 |page=198 |accessdate=2012-03-19}}</ref>
* [[Barry Gardiner]], British politician and member of the Labour Party. He identifies as a Christian democratic socialist.<ref>{{cite news |title=Socialist labels for Barry Gardiner and Jeremy Corbyn |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-48268699 |access-date=8 June 2019 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=14 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Schofield |first=Kevin |title=Barry Gardiner: On taking on the media, his cult status and Labour's future |url=https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/politics/house/87129/barry-gardiner-taking-media-his-cult-status-and-labours-future |access-date=19 January 2023 |work=PoliticsHome |date=29 June 2017 }}</ref>
* [[David Bentley Hart]], American [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] philosophical theologian. He identifies with the European Christian socialist tradition.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hart|first=David Betley|title=Can We Please Relax About 'Socialism'? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/27/opinion/sunday/socialism.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=22 July 2019 |date=27 April 2019}}</ref>
* [[Thomas Hughes]], English lawyer and judge. He was also a politician and author within the Victorian era.<ref name="Norman 2002 p. 91"/>
* [[Hewlett Johnson]], English [[Anglican]] priest. The author of ''The Socialist Sixth of the World'' (1939) and ''Soviet Russia Since the War'' (1947), he was known as "The Red [[Dean of Canterbury]]".<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=Natalie E. |last=Watson|title=Hewlett Johnson|id=34202}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Mount|first=F.|date=2012|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n08/ferdinand-mount/to-the-end-of-the-line |title=To the End of the Line: Review of ''The Red Dean of Canterbury: The Public and Private Faces of Hewlett Johnson'' by Butler, J. |journal=London Review of Books|volume= 34 |issue=8|pages= 27–28|access-date= 19 January 2023}}</ref>
* [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], American Baptist minister. He was also a civil rights activist.<ref>{{cite book|last=King |first=Martin Luther Jr. |author-link=Martin Luther King Jr. |title=The Radical King |publisher=[[Beacon Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-8070-1282-6 |editor-last=West |editor-first=Cornel |editor-link=Cornel West}}</ref>
* [[Charles Kingsley]], English university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist, and poet, who was a [[broad church]] priest of the [[Church of England]]. He is a founder of Christian socialism.<ref name="Schmidt 2012"/>
* [[Kenneth Leech]], English Anglican priest and theologian. He is one of the founders of the Jubilee Group, a network of Christian socialists.<ref>{{cite web |date=2015 |title=Leech, Kenneth |url=https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/collections/leech-kenneth |access-date=19 January 2023 |publisher=Bishopsgate Institute}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Oestreicher|first=Paul|date=22 September 2015 |title=The Rev Ken Leech obituary |url=http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/22/the-rev-ken-leech |access-date=19 January 2023 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Chappell|first=Jonathan W.|date=29 June 2022|title='Keep the Faith Baby': Kenneth Leech's Christian socialism|url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/pastoral-review/21/2104/-keep-the-faith-baby-kenneth-leech-s-christian-socialism|access-date=19 January 2023|website=The Tablet|archive-date=19 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119150629/https://www.thetablet.co.uk/pastoral-review/21/2104/-keep-the-faith-baby-kenneth-leech-s-christian-socialism|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Keir Hardie]], Scottish politician and trade unionist. He was one of the founders of Britain's Labour Party and Christian socialist movement.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Maiden |first1=Samantha |author-link1=Samantha Maiden |last2=Edwards |first2=Verity |date=15 December 2006 |title=Rudd Backtracks on Socialism |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20930265-2702,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070906083040/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20930265-2702,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 September 2007 |work=The Australian Financial Review|quote=Mr Rudd also cites Keir Hardie, founder of the 19th century British Christian socialist movement, as one of his heroes.}}</ref>
* [[John Malcolm Forbes Ludlow]], Anglo-Indian barrister. He led the Christian socialist movement and founded its newspaper of the same name.<ref name="Schmidt 2012"/>
* [[F. D. Maurice]], English Anglican theologian. He was also a prolific author and one of the founders of Christian socialism.<ref name="Schmidt 2012"/>
* [[Adam Mickiewicz]], Polish romanticist poet.
* [[Walter Nash]], New Zealand politician. He is a former [[Prime Minister of New Zealand]] and leader of the New Zealand Labour Party.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Gustafson |first1=Barry |author-link1=Barry Gustafson |year=2013 |orig-year=1998 |title=Nash, Walter |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4n2/nash-walter |department=[[Dictionary of New Zealand Biography]] |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |publisher=[[Ministry for Culture and Heritage]] |access-date=4 June 2016}}</ref>
* [[Myron W. Reed]], American lawyer, [[Congregationalist]] minister, and political activist. He was a leading voice of the [[social gospel movement]] in the American West.{{sfn|Berman|2007}}
* [[Kevin Rudd]], Australian politician. He is a former [[Prime Minister of Australia]] and leader of the [[Australian Labor Party]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Rudd |first1=Kevin |author-link1=Kevin Rudd |date=October 2006 |title=Faith in Politics |url=https://www.themonthly.com.au/monthly-essays-kevin-rudd-faith-politics--300 |url-access=limited |magazine=The Monthly |issue=17 |access-date=4 June 2016 |quote=A Christian perspective, informed by a social gospel or Christian socialist tradition, should not be rejected contemptuously by secular politicians as if these views are an unwelcome intrusion into the political sphere.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Maiden |first1=Samantha |author-link1=Samantha Maiden |last2=Edwards |first2=Verity |date=15 December 2006 |title=Rudd Backtracks on Socialism |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20930265-2702,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070906083040/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20930265-2702,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 September 2007 |work=The Australian Financial Review}} Also cites {{cite news |last1=Gordon |first1=Michael |last2=Grattan |first2=Michelle |author-link2=Michelle Grattan |date=14 December 2006 |title=Rudd Rejects Socialism |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/rudd-rejects-socialism/2006/12/13/1165685753120.html?page=fullpage |work=The Age |access-date=4 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Crabb|first=Annabel|date=3 September 2013|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-04/crabb-religion-and-politics/4933224|title=Call yourself a Christian: private faith, public politics|publisher=ABC|access-date=19 January 2023}}</ref>
* [[John Ruskin]], English writer and philosopher of the Victorian era. His work had a profound effect and was reprinted by the Christian socialist founders of the [[Working Men's College]] and [[William Morris]].<ref name="MacCarthy 1994"/>
* [[Amir Sjarifuddin]], Indonesian political activist. He was the second [[Prime Minister of Indonesia]] from 1947 until 1948 and was implicated in the [[Madiun Affair]] of 1948.
* [[Sun Yat-sen]], Chinese revolutionary and first president of the [[Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912)|Provisional Government of the Republic of China]]. Sun was a lifelong Christian<ref name="v769">{{cite book | last1=Lu | first1=P.C. | last2=Brown | first2=J.R. | title=Ways of Confucius and of Christ: From Prime Minister of China to Benedictine Monk | publisher=Ignatius Press | year=2023 | isbn=978-1-64229-279-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=psLaEAAAQBAJ | access-date=29 July 2024 | page=}}</ref> who posited socialism as the ideal method for modernizing and re-strengthening China's economy.<ref>Stephen Shen, and Robert Payne, ''Sun Yat-Sen: A Portrait'' (1946) p 182</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Westad |first1=Odd Arne |title=Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750 |date=2012 |publisher=Random House |page=155}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=France-Malone |first1=Derek |title=Political Dissent: A Global Reader: Modern Sources |date=2011 |publisher=Lexington Books |page=175}}</ref>
* [[R. H. Tawney]], English philosopher. He is identified as an [[ethical socialist]] who believed Christianity was the basis of a new morality that secular expression in [[social democracy]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Fellowship, Freedom & Equality: Lectures in Memory of R.H. Tawney|last=Ormrod|first=David|year=1990|publisher=Christian Socialist Movement|location=London|isbn=978-0-900286-01-8|page=9|quote=Tawney's was undoubtedly the most forceful and authentic voice of Christian socialist prophecy to be raised during the 1920s and 30s, echoing into the 1950s.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The History Today Companion to British History|editor-last=Gardiner|editor-first=Juliet |year=1995|publisher=Collins & Brown|location=London|isbn=978-1-85585-261-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/historytodaycomp0000unse/page/734 734]|display-authors=etal|url=https://archive.org/details/historytodaycomp0000unse/page/734}}</ref>
* [[Tetsu Katayama]], Japanese politician. He is a former [[Prime Minister of Japan]] for the [[Japan Socialist Party]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Phillips |first=James M. |title=From the Rising of the Sun: Christians and Society in Contemporary Japan |date=17 June 2011 |publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-61097-557-5 |edition=paperback |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=silNAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 21]}}</ref>
* [[Desmond Tutu]], South African theologian. He was the former [[Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town]].{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=236}}
* [[Harry F. Ward]], English-born American [[Methodist]] minister. He was also a political activist who identified himself with the Christian socialist movement.<ref name="Rossinow 2005"/>
* [[Ivan Prokhanov]], Russian, Soviet, and [[White émigré|émigré]] religious figure, [[engineer]], [[poet]], preacher, [[Theology|theologian]], and [[politician]].
* [[Jim Jones]], American cult leader. He established the [[Peoples Temple]] that fuses elements of [[Christianity]] with [[communist]] and [[socialist]] ideology. He is associated with the [[Jonestown|Jonestown massacre]].<ref>{{Cite web |title= |url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/DissolutionPeoplesTemple.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083421/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/DissolutionPeoplesTemple.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 |access-date=2025-09-07 |website=jonestown.sdsu.edu}}</ref>

Notable Christian socialist groups and parties include:
* [[Agricultural People's Front of Peru]] (Peru)
* [[Christian Democracy (Greece)|Christian Democracy]] (Greece)
* [[Christians on the Left]] (United Kingdom)
* [[Christian Social Party (Netherlands)|Christian Social Party]] (Netherlands)
* [[Christian Social Party (Switzerland)|Christian Social Party]] (Switzerland)
* [[Citizen Left]] (Chile)
* [[Democratic Party (Italy)|Democratic Party]] factions (Italy)
* [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] factions (United Kingdom)
* [[League of Christian Socialists]] (Netherlands)
* [[Sandinista National Liberation Front]] (Nicaragua)
* [[Le Sillon]] (France)
* [[Social Democratic Party (Romania)|Social Democratic Party]] (Romania)
* [[Young Republic League]] (France)

== Reception ==
In Britain, Christian socialism is viewed positively by many different backgrounds, ranging from [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformists]] to [[Roman Catholic]], particularly Anglo-Catholic Ritualism.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tanis |first=Bethany |date=2009 |title=The 'Great Church Crisis,' Public Life, and National Identity in late-Victorian and Edwardian Britain |url=https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:101671/datastream/PDF/view<!--https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:101671--> |access-date=16 January 2023 |website=eScholarship@BC |publisher=Boston College University Libraries |page=30}}</ref> It is viewed critically by some socialists,<ref>{{cite web |last=Tanis |first=Bethany |date=2009 |title=The 'Great Church Crisis,' Public Life, and National Identity in late-Victorian and Edwardian Britain |url=https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:101671/datastream/PDF/view<!--https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:101671--> |access-date=16 January 2023 |website=eScholarship@BC |publisher=Boston College University Libraries |page=41|quote=The chapter also briefly examines the impact of Christian Socialism on the Labour Movement and the hostility of some of the Independent Labour Party's founders, including Keir Hardie and J. Bruce Glasier to both Ritualism and Roman Catholicism, which they associated with the upper-class.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Williams |first=Anthony Alan John |date=March 2016 |title=Christian Socialism as a Political Ideology |url=https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3001797/1/200514195_Mar2016.pdf |access-date=16 January 2023 |website=University of Liverpool Repository |publisher=University of Liverpool |page=5 |quote=Their vision of this society was for the most part highly utopian, due to the belief that the new society would be the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. There are several criticisms of Christian Socialism which have been made, both from a Christian and from a socialist perspective, over, for example, the viability of the Christian Socialist methodology and the validity of the Christian Socialist use of Scripture and church teaching.}}</ref> who reject it as [[utopian socialism]] and for its methodology, and by some religious figures and popes,<ref>{{cite web |last=Williams |first=Anthony Alan John |date=March 2016 |title=Christian Socialism as a Political Ideology |url=https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3001797/1/200514195_Mar2016.pdf |access-date=16 January 2023 |website=University of Liverpool Repository |publisher=University of Liverpool |page=66 |quote=This rejection of socialism was the Vatican's consistent position: Pope Pius IX had rejected socialism and communism in his ''Syllabus Errorum'' (the ''Syllabus of Errors'') in 1864, as did Pius XI in ''Quadragessimo anno'', or ''In the Fortieth Year'', so called because the encyclical was written in 1931, forty years after the publication of ''Rerum novarum'' (and also a year after the death of Wheatley). Indeed Pius XI was specific in his condemnation: 'Whether socialism be considered as a doctrine, or as a historical fact, or as a 'movement', if it really remains socialism, it cannot be brought into harmony with the dogmas of the Catholic Church ... 'Religious socialism', 'Christian socialism' are expressions implying a contradiction in terms. No one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true socialist'.}}</ref> who rejected socialism's compatibility with Christianity due to its perceived atheism and materialism. [[Continental Reformed Protestant]] pastor Henri Nick defended it, saying: "It is not socialism that I would criticise, but atheism falsely called social."<ref>{{cite book |last=Chalamet |first=Christophe |title=Revivalism and Social Christianity: The Prophetic Faith of Henri Nick and Andre Trocme |date=29 September 2017 |publisher=ISD |isbn=978-0-7188-4602-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=d9XYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 27]}}</ref>

Anglo-Catholic Christian socialism was part of Catholic polemic against perceived Protestant individualism and puritanism, which led many anti-Ritualist Protestants to associate Catholicism and socialism.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tanis |first=Bethany |date=2009 |title=The 'Great Church Crisis,' Public Life, and National Identity in late-Victorian and Edwardian Britain |url=https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:101671/datastream/PDF/view<!--https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:101671--> |access-date=16 January 2023 |website=eScholarship@BC |publisher=Boston College University Libraries |page=165}}</ref> [[Charles Haddon Spurgeon]], an English [[Particular Baptist]] preacher, was critical of socialist doctrines, and warned that those who seek socialism "may soon have too much of it". Specifically, he regarded collectivist Christianity as inferior to faith on an individual level. He said: "I would not have you exchange the gold of individual Christianity for the base metal of Christian Socialism."<ref><!--Spurgeon, Charles Haddon (1889). ''One Lost Sheep''.-->{{cite book|last=Spurgeon|first=Charles Haddon|title=The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit |date=1889 |publisher=Passmore |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pb9BAQAAMAAJ&pg=PT241 241]}} Also quoted in {{cite book|last=Charles|first=Spurgeon|title=The Complete Works of C. H. Spurgeon, Volume 35: Sermons 2062–2120|date=26 March 2015 |publisher=Delmarva Publications |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OOGoBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT309 309]}}</ref> [[Tommy Fallot]], a French [[Lutheran]] pastor, argued: "Socialism has drawn a good deal of its program from the Gospel. It seeks to build a society on the pillars of justice, something the Gospel seeks to do as well. In that regard, a condemnation of socialism would represent a condemnation of the Gospel and the prophets."<ref>{{cite book |last=Chalamet |first=Christophe |title=Revivalism and Social Christianity: The Prophetic Faith of Henri Nick and Andre Trocme |date=29 September 2017 |publisher=ISD |isbn=978-0-7188-4602-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=d9XYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 15]}}</ref>

Views of Christian socialism generally depend on the [[left–right political spectrum]]. While Christian leftists argue that Jesus would prioritize the poor and migrant's rights over opposition to abortion, Christian rightists argue he would be against wealth redistribution, illegal immigrants, abortion, and same-sex marriage.<ref>{{cite web |last=Barigazzi |first=Jacopo |date=24 December 2021 |title=Was Jesus a leftist or a rightist? |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/jesus-leftist-or-rightist-religion-politics/ |access-date=12 January 2023 |website=Politico}}</ref> The conservative view is reflected by [[Lawrence Reed]], president emeritus of the [[American libertarian]]-leaning [[Foundation for Economic Education]],{{sfn|Reed|2015}} [[American conservative]] and evangelical Christian [[Johnnie Moore Jr.]],<ref>{{cite web | last=Moore | first=Johnnie |date=2013| title=Was Jesus a Socialist or a Capitalist? | url=http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/was-jesus-a-socialist-or-a-capitalist.html | publisher=Fox News Radio | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005230518/http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/was-jesus-a-socialist-or-a-capitalist.html | archive-date=5 October 2016  | access-date=4 June 2016}}</ref><!--<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/03/23/virginias-liberty-university-a-mega-college-and-republican-presidential-stage/|title=Virginia's Liberty University: A mega-college and Republican presidential stage|last=Anderson|first=Nick|date=23 March 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=24 April 2018|issn=0190-8286|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424202821/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/03/23/virginias-liberty-university-a-mega-college-and-republican-presidential-stage/|archive-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>--> and [[Bryan Fischer]], an [[American traditionalist conservative]], of the [[American Family Association]], a [[Christian fundamentalist]] organization.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Fischer|first1=Bryan|author-link1=Bryan Fischer|title=Jesus Was Not a Socialist|url=http://www.afa.net/the-stand/bible/2015/10/jesus-was-not-a-socialist/|website=The Stand|publisher=American Family Association|date=15 October 2015|access-date=4 June 2016|archive-date=14 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160614113417/http://www.afa.net/the-stand/bible/2015/10/jesus-was-not-a-socialist|url-status=dead}}</ref> Opposing this view on the right is [[Quentin Letts]], who said, "Jesus preached fairness—you could almost call him a Lefty".<ref>{{cite web |last=Byrnes |first=Sholto |date=9 June 2021 |title='Jesus was a lefty' |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2009/11/jesus-quentin-mail-leftie |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003000547/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2009/11/jesus-quentin-mail-leftie |archive-date=3 October 2021 |access-date=12 January 2023 |website=New Statesman}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Christianity|Socialism}}
{{cols|colwidth=21em}}
* [[Agrarian socialism]]
* [[Buddhist socialism]]
* [[Catholic Church and politics]]
* [[Catholicism and socialism]]
* [[Christian left]]
* [[Christian libertarianism]]
* [[Christian right]]
* [[Christian Socialist Fellowship]]
* [[Christian views on poverty and wealth]]
* [[Islamic socialism]]
* [[Japan Socialist Party]]
* [[Jesus and the rich young man]]
* [[Jewish left]]
* [[Labour Church]]
* [[Labor Zionism]]
* ''[[Omnia sunt communia]]''
* [[Political theology]]
* [[Progressive Christianity]]
* [[Religious views on capitalism]]
* [[Spiritual left]]
* [[Three-Self Patriotic Movement]]
* [[Catholic communism]]
{{colend}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book |last1=Berman |first1=David R. |year=2007 |title=Radicalism in the Mountain West, 1890–1920: Socialists, Populists, Miners, and Wobblies |location=Boulder, Colorado |publisher=[[University Press of Colorado]] |isbn=978-0-87081-884-4}}
* {{cite journal | title = The Destruction of the Samaritan Temple by John Hyrcanus: A Reconsideration | last = Bourgel | first = Jonathan | journal = [[Journal of Biblical Literature]] | date = Fall 2016 | volume = 135 | issue = 3 | pages = 505–523 | doi = 10.15699/jbl.1353.2016.3129 | jstor = 10.15699/jbl.1353.2016.3129}}
* {{cite book |last1=Braude |first1=Ann |year=1989 |title=Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America |location=Boston, Massachusetts |publisher=[[Beacon Press]] |isbn=978-0-8070-7500-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/radicalspiritssp00braurich}}
* {{cite book |last1=Chalamet |first1=Christophe |year=2013 |title=Revivalism and Social Christianity: The Prophetic Faith of Henri Nick and André Trocmé |location=Eugene, Oregon |publisher=[[Pickwick Publications]] |isbn=978-1-61097-858-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Cort |first=John C. |author-link=John Cyrus Cort |year=1988 |title=Christian Socialism: An Informal History |url=https://archive.org/details/christiansociali0000cort |url-access=registration |location=Maryknoll, New York |publisher=[[Orbis Books]] |isbn=978-0-88344-574-7}}
* {{cite book| title = The Samaritans | editor-last = Crown | editor-first = Alan D. | year = 1989 | publisher = [[Mohr Siebeck]] | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pzo6KAH3FmUC&pg=PA196 | isbn = 978-3-161-45237-6}}
* {{cite journal |last=Cyranka |first=Daniel |year=2016 |title=Religious Revolutionaries and Spiritualism in Germany Around 1848 |journal=[[Aries (journal)|Aries]] |volume=16 |issue=1 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=[[Brill Academic Publishers]] |pages=13–38 |doi=10.1163/15700593-01601002 |issn=1570-0593}}
* {{cite book |editor1-first=John |editor1-last=Davies |editor1-link=John Davies (historian) |editor2-first=Nigel |editor2-last=Jenkins |editor2-link=Nigel Jenkins |editor3-first=Menna |editor3-last=Baines |editor4-first=Peredur I. |editor4-last=Lynch |title=The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales |year=2008 |publisher=[[University of Wales Press]] |location=Cardiff |isbn=978-0-7083-1953-6 |title-link=Encyclopaedia of Wales}}
* {{cite book |last1=Leech |first1=Kenneth |author1-link=Kenneth Leech |year=2000 |chapter=Socialism |editor1-last=Hastings |editor1-first=Adrian |editor1-link=Adrian Hastings |editor2-last=Mason |editor2-first=Alistair |editor3-last=Pyper |editor3-first=Hugh |title=The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hast |chapter-url-access=limited |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hast/page/676 676–678] |isbn=978-0-19-860024-4 |access-date=8 August 2018 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hast/page/676}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Llwyd |first1=Rhys |year=2015 |title=Plaid Cymru, Welsh Nationalism and Christianity: A Historical Perspective |url=http://www.klice.co.uk/uploads/ethics%20in%20brief/eib_llwyd_e2015_5_web.pdf |journal=[[Ethics in Brief]] |volume=2015 Election Series |issue=5 |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Tyndale House (Cambridge)|Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102217/http://www.klice.co.uk/uploads/ethics%20in%20brief/eib_llwyd_e2015_5_web.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=4 June 2016}}
* {{cite book |last=Montero |first=Roman A. |year=2017 |title=All Things in Common: The Economic Practices of the Early Christians |location=Eugene, Oregon |publisher=Wipf and Stock |isbn=978-1-5326-0791-2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Norman |first1=Edward |author1-link=Edward Norman (historian) |year=1987 |title=The Victorian Christian Socialists |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |publication-date=2002 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511560743 |isbn=978-0-521-53051-4}}
* {{cite book |last1=Reed |first1=Lawrence |author1-link=Lawrence Reed |year=2015 |title=Rendering unto Caesar: Was Jesus a Socialist? |location=Atlanta, Georgia |publisher=[[Foundation for Economic Education]] |isbn=978-1-57246-037-9}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ruskin |first1=John |author1-link=John Ruskin |year=1872 |title="Unto this Last": Four Essays on the First Principles of Political Economy |url=https://archive.org/details/untothislastfou00ruskgoog|location=New York |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |access-date=3 June 2016}}
* {{cite journal |last=Strube |first=Julian |year=2016a |title=Socialist Religion and the Emergence of Occultism: A Genealogical Approach to Socialism and Secularization in 19th-Century France |journal=[[religion (journal)|Religion]] |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=359–388 |doi=10.1080/0048721X.2016.1146926 |s2cid=147626697 |issn=1096-1151}}
* {{cite book |last1=Strube |first1=Julian <!--|author-mask={{long dash}}--> |year=2016b |title=Sozialismus, Katholizismus und Okkultismus im Frankreich des 19. Jahrhunderts. Die Genealogie der Schriften von Eliphas Lévi |trans-title=Socialism, Catholicism, and Occultism in Nineteenth-Century France: The Genealogy of the Writings of Eliphas Lévi |series=Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten |volume=69 |language=de |location=Berlin |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |isbn=978-3-11-047654-5}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book |last=Bissett |first=Jim |year=1999 |title=Agrarian Socialism in America: Marx, Jefferson, and Jesus in the Oklahoma Countryside, 1904–1920 |location=Norman, Oklahoma |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-3148-1}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Bliss |editor-first=William D. P. |editor-link=William Dwight Porter Bliss |year=1897 |title=Christian Socialism |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediofsoc00blisrich |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Social Reform |location=New York |publisher=Funk & Wagnalls Company |pages=251–260 |lccn=02014652 |access-date=4 June 2016}}
* {{cite book |last=Boyer |first=John W. |author-link=John W. Boyer |year=1995 |title=Culture and Political Crisis in Vienna: Christian Socialism in Power, 1897–1918 |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-06960-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Hopkins |first=Charles Howard |year=1940 |title=The Rise of the Social Gospel in American Protestantism, 1865–1915 |series=Yale Studies in Religious Education |volume=14 |location=New Haven, Connecticut |publisher=Yale University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Kingsley |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Kingsley |year=1898 |title=The Works of Charles Kingsley |url=https://archive.org/details/workscharleskin08kinggoog |volume=2 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=John B. Morris & Company |access-date=8 August 2018}}
* {{cite book |year=1885 |orig-year=1877 |editor-last=Kingsley |editor-first=Frances Eliza Grenfell |title=Charles Kingsley: His Letters and Memories of His Life |url=https://archive.org/details/charleskingsley05kinggoog |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |access-date=8 August 2018}}
* {{cite book |last=Leno |first=John Bedford |author-link=John Bedford Leno |year=1892 |title=The Aftermath with Autobiography of the Author |location=London |publisher=Reeves & Turner}}
* {{cite book |year=1885 |orig-year=1884 |editor-last=Maurice |editor-first=Frederick |editor-link=John Frederick Maurice |title=The Life of Frederick Denison Maurice: Chiefly Told in His Own Letters |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeoffrederickd02mauriala |volume=2 |edition=4th |location=London |publisher=Macmillan and Co. |access-date=8 August 2018}}
* {{cite book |last=Myles |first=Robert J. |year=2019 |title=Class Struggle in the New Testament |location=Lanham |publisher=Fortress Academic |isbn=978-1-9787-0209-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Phillips |first=Paul T. |year=1996 |title=A Kingdom on Earth: Anglo-American Social Christianity, 1880–1940 |location=University Park, Pennsylvania |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |isbn=978-0-271-01580-4}}
* {{cite web |last=Simkin |first=John |year=2014 |orig-year=1997 |title=Christian Socialists |url=http://spartacus-educational.com/REsocialism.htm |website=Spartacus Educational |access-date=8 August 2018}}
* {{cite book |last=Woodworth |first=Arthur V. |year=1903 |title=Christian Socialism in England |url=https://archive.org/details/christiansocial01woodgoog |location=London |publisher=Swan Sonnenschein & Company}}
* {{cite journal |last=Young |first=Shawn David |year=2010 |title=From Hippies to Jesus Freaks: Christian Radicalism in Chicago's Inner-City |url=https://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art22(2)-jesusfreaks.html |journal=Journal of Religion and Popular Culture |volume=22 |issue=2 |location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |pages=1–28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130221083327/http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art22%282%29-jesusfreaks.html |archive-date=21 February 2013 |access-date=3 June 2016 |doi=10.3138/jrpc.22.2.003 |url-access=subscription}}
* {{cite book |last=Du Boulay |first=Shirley |year=1988 |title=Tutu: Voice of the Voiceless |location=London |publisher=Hodder and Stoughton |isbn=9780340416143}}
{{refend}}

{{Christianity and politics}}
{{relpolnav}}
{{socialism}}
{{subject bar|commons=yes|commons-search=Category:Christian socialism|q=yes|d=yes|d-search=Q739609}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian Socialism}}
[[Category:Christian socialism| ]]
[[Category:Christianity and political ideologies|Socialism]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Economy and Christianity]]
[[Category:Religious socialism]]
[[Category:Social justice]]