Social Gospel, a term which came into use in North America soon
after 1900, refers to a movement concerned with the unequal
distribution of wealth through capitalism, with the exploitation
of the poor, and with a christianizing of society in all areas
of life. Its goal was to help bring in the kingdom of God, which
it believed to be "humanity organized according to the will of
God." In the United States its influence spanned the years from
the Civil War (1861-65) to World War I, peaking in the first two
decades of the 20th century, but it was also influential in
England (Charles Kingsley [1819-75]), and in Canada (J. S.
Woodsworth [1874-1942]). The roots of the Social Gospel grew, in
part, in liberal theology with its idealism and optimistic view
of progress, but also in Evangelicalism (Pietism) and
sectarianism (Anabaptism). Those standing primarily in the
liberal tradition were social evolutionists with unbounded
optimism. The end of slavery now meant that God had opened the
way "for the redemption and sanc