Walter Rauschenbusch’s thought made an indelible and enduring impact on the Christian world and beyond. Scores of books and hundreds of articles have rediscovered the implications of his work in church history, ethics, politics, gender studies, international relations, German American cross culturalism, Christian spirituality, Baptist religious identity, and the Liberal and evangelical theological perspectives. His writings made an immediate impact upon publication, and have been reprinted over the years since by many different disciples. A roster of distinguished and younger scholars plumbed the depths of Rauschenbusch’s impact on the Christian Tradition. Rauschenbusch biographers Gary Dorrien and Christopher Evans assess Walter’s place in the course of American religious thought, particularly the Liberal tradition. A second group of papers is devoted to the extent of the Rauschenbusch legacy and includes writers Andrea Strübind (the German context), Adam Bond (Samuel D. Proctor as a disciple of the Black Social Gospel), Roger Prentice (the Canadian Context), and Chakravarthy Zadda (the Telugu mission context in India). A third cluster features specific aspects of the Rauschenbusch legacy: Wendy Deichmann (gender and the family); Darryl Trimiew (the Black Church); Dominik Gautier (postcolonial reflection by a European); and Christina Littlefield (Rauschenbusch as a Muckraker). Gathered under the heading of “The Largeness of the Rauschenbusch Legacy” are essays by Heath Carter (Rauschenbusch’s place in history); David Gushee (an analysis of Rauschenbusch’s Kingdom ethic); and William Brackney (Rauschenbusch’s contribution to Baptist life and thought). Of particular interest is the personal reflection by Paul B. Raushenbush, great grandson of Walter.
