Civic Gospel

The Civic Gospel was a philosophy of municipal activism and improvement that emerged in Birmingham, England, in the mid-19th century.

Tracing its origins to the teaching of independent nonconformist preacher George Dawson,[1] who declared that "a town is a solemn organism through which shall flow, and in which shall be shaped, all the highest, loftiest and truest ends of man's moral nature",[2] it reached its culmination in the mayoralty of Joseph Chamberlain between 1873 and 1876.

[3] After Dawson's death in 1876 it was the Congregationalist pastor R. W. Dale who took on the role as the movement's leading nonconformist spokesman.

[10] The philosophy encompassed not only practical measures such as slum clearance and improvements in sanitation, but also the provision of cultural facilities such as libraries and a museum and art gallery: for 31 of the first 33 years of its existence the Birmingham Free Libraries Committee had as its chairman a member of Dawson's congregation.

Water supply is rapidly coming to be universally a matter of public provision, no fewer than 71 separate governing bodies obtaining loans for this purpose in the year 1885–86 alone.