ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how sociology itself rejected its initial links to social gospel theology and missions. If the influence of social gospel theology upon early American sociology was as important as argued here, the question arises as to why contemporary sociology seems to have completely forgotten its religious foundations. Positivists focused upon the development of an adequate mathematical technique, which they were willing to place at the disposal of business, industry, military, and government—the very same institutions frequently criticized by social gospel sociologists. Despite the globalization of the social gospel during the second decade of the century, the social gospel was soon to experience a major period of decline in popularity and influence at home. Fundamentalism also rejected the basic social gospel belief that the final kingdom would be established on earth as an inevitable outcome of the historical process.
