"The 'social gospel' of the Methodist tradition"
National Public Radio just ran a pair of features on the flavors of Christianity represented by the presidential and vice presidential nominees. An editor’s note affixed to both stories summarizes the theme: “Both major presidential candidates this year are Protestants… Beyond that, their faith profiles are very different.”
Donald Trump is an admirer and former parishioner of Norman Vincent Peale’s, the Power of Positive Thinking guy. NPR reporter Tom Gjelten connects Trump’s history with Peale to his current preference for prosperity preachers. As for Hillary Clinton, Gjelten aligns her with what he calls “the ‘social gospel’ of the Methodist tradition,” which he defines basically as love of neighbor put into practice.
A classic problem of understanding American Protestantism is overstating the role of denominations. It would have been a rookie mistake to suggest that Peale somehow represents something essential about the Reformed Church in America, and Gjelten avoids this. But with Clinton he makes an odd mistake, implying that the social gospel movement is or was uniquely Methodist:
