Practical Christian Socialism: A Conversational Exposition of the True System of Human Society; in Three Parts, Viz: I. Fundamental Principles. II. Constitutional Polity. III. Superiority to Other Systems

Adin Ballou

Jan 1854 · The author

Ratings and reviews

"Practical Christian Socialism", written by Rev. Adin Ballou, founder of the Christian Personalist Commune of Hopedale in Milford, Massachusetts, 1842, hoped to fully show that Christianity, when practiced as Christ intended, was not only righteous, but also practical- and practicable. That is, if life was lived according to Jesus teachings of peaceability, equity between the sexes, personal responsibility towards one another, substantial and fruitful labors for the good of the community and in accordance with the laws of both Nature and God, the respect of free will and in the absence of greed, slavery and the abominations of the will, it was to be the model for human scociety. Ballou did not focus, as other communities would, on separateness cult, but living among and in such a community of others who shared these beliefs and goals. Among examples, including Christ were individuals and communities which formulated the philosophies of Christian Socialism, mostly from Europe. Since his Socialism was not of any ilk akin to Marxian ideologies which were to later come, he specifically defined his an organism born of and developing from a social interactions among like thinking and acting Christians. The Personalism I refer to, personal responsibility in thought and action to each other, had been stated before in writings of John Woolman, the mission of Jonathan Chapman (A minister of the "New Church" and the Emmanuel Swedenborian Movement) and certainly during his lifetime of correspondence with the likes of Leo Tolstoy whose book "The Kingdom of God Is within You" was in response to Ballou's letters. Ballou was not the first philosopher to use the 'Conversationalist' style, but was among the very few clergymen to utilize it in his works. He aimed his reasoning at the particularly mentally emancipated New Englander Middle Class whose members would have been familiar with logical conversational intercourse and reaoning and who were probably already at least literarily exposed to other Christian communalist experiments ongoing during the end of this American 'Era Of Good Feeling'. As monumental as this work is, it is my feeling he had and wanted to author a manifesto. Though it did not detract from his other works, this 655 page book, a behemouth for its time, ended up being among other scholarly works of the Personalist Christian philosphy much like those following such as Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky and today connected with the Catholic Worker Movement, Cahterine deHueck Doherty, Lanza del Vasto, Jacques Mauritain, Simone Weil, Peter Maurin, Dorothy Day and the early 1900s Roman Catholic 'le Sillon' Movement. I do think that anyone who downloads this work - and like others - intends it not as light or simply interesting reading, but in conjunction with other important works, considerable studies of this particular philosophy. In that vein many I recommend obtaining a copy of Peter Maurin's "Easy Essays", a compilation of his philosophical poems otherwise known as "The Green Revolution"; which nearly everyone I have met in the Catholic Worker Movement says he or she has read and been greatly influenced by.