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Gregory Baum's Theory of Social Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2014

Don Schweitzer
Don Schweitzer*
Affiliation:
Wesley United Church
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Abstract

Theologies dedicated to radical social change require an understanding of how social change is possible. Gregory Baum has developed such a theory based on Max Weber's notion of charismatic leadership. This article analyzes Baum's understanding of the nature and dynamics of social change, the role of symbols therein, and shows how Baum corrects certain weaknesses in Weber's thought. Baum's theory could be strengthened by drawing upon Christian symbols of eschatological hope and the doctrine of the Trinity. This would help the church relate its faith to social movements and countervailing trends in terms of its own symbol system.

Type
Articles
Information
Horizons , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , Spring 1999 , pp. 54 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 1999

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References

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15 Habermas, Jürgen, Knowledge and Human Interests (Boston: Beacon, 1971), 312, 195–98.Google Scholar There is always an element of inordinate self-interest in any expression of these. But people's human interests often also express transcendent values such as justice and respect for others. As we will argue below, precisely this mixing of inordinate self-interest and transcendent values in any expression of people's human interests requires that a social movement subject itself to critique in terms of a transcendent norm of justice such as the preferential option for the poor.

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