ABSTRACT
Sociology established itself as a legitimate intellectual subject, worthy of a place in American academia, early in the 1890s. William Graham Sumner, who vehemently opposed almost every idea put forward by the social gospelers, sought to establish American sociology as a secularized version of Calvinist theology. Christianity, sociology, social work, and social reform would all share the same perspective and work jointly toward the goal of helping bring about the Kingdom. Small also rejected Sumner’s Spencerian sociology, because in Small’s mind such a social model was fundamentally unchristian. Small called for study in such fields as sociology, history, anthropology, political science, and ethics to augment Christian theology in establishing a holistic portrait of human society. Sociology would then have a major significance in the field of ethics, because only through sociological study could one establish ultimate values. Sociology must use all of the social facts at its disposal as the raw material for creating social ideals.
