“By the time the Church had gained sufficient power to exercise a controlling influence, the process of social decay”

—  Walter Rauschenbusch

Source: Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Ch.4 Why Has Christianity Never Undertaken the Work of Social Reconstruction?, p. 146
Context: Christianity was rising when the ancient world was breaking down. By the time the Church had gained sufficient power to exercise a controlling influence, the process of social decay, like the breakdown of a physical organism in a wasting disease, was beyond remedy.

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Walter Rauschenbusch 83
United States Baptist theologian 1861–1918

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