Washington Gladden (February 11, 1836 – July 2, 1918) was a leading American Congregational pastor and early leader in the Social Gospel movement.

[2] During Gladden's formative years, western New York State was known as the Burned-Over District because it had been the center of a number of religious revivals.

[3] Gladden heard many preachers in a fruitless search for "assurance of divine favor" until, in his 18th year, a "clear-headed minister" helped him "trust the Heavenly Father's love" for him.

[4] During his newspaper apprenticeship, Gladden made his "choice of a calling:" to become an ordained minister in the Congregational Church.

In 1860, a pivotal year for Gladden, he received his first call to a pastorate, which was followed by ordination, marriage, the secession of southern states, and the impending Civil War.

From that position, Gladden attained national fame,[7] especially for his aid in exposing the corrupt organization of Boss Tweed.

[16] Gladden's active support for workers and their right to organize began during his years in North Adams and Springfield.

His position aroused the opposition of mill and factory owners, but he was not deterred and continued his work for justice the rest of his life.

[12] Although he was deeply concerned for the well-being of workers, scholars have noted that his early lectures in 1875 and 1876 lacked the understanding of the industrial system that was characteristic of his later writings.

In that era, Gladden acknowledged that the economic problems were also moral but "contributed little that the most conservative of industrial leaders would not have admitted to be the case.

[19] Gladden became the pastor of the First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio, in 1882 and served in that position for thirty-six years.

[10] During First Church's 1902 Golden Jubilee Celebration, Gladden said on his preaching that "you have not always agreed with me; you could not; but when my words, and sometimes my conduct were opposed to your thoughts and interests, you never tried to muzzle me.

"[21] By the mid-1880s, he drew audiences across the nation to hear him speak for "bargaining rights for labor, a shorter work week, factory inspections, inheritance taxation, and regulation of natural monopolies."

As such, he was biblically grounded and centered, but always seeking to "adjust Christianity to modern times"[22] He helped to promote his evangelical liberalism in books such as Burning Questions (1890) and Who Wrote the Bible (1891).

In Who Wrote the Bible, Gladden stated: "it is idle to try to force the narrative of Genesis into an exact correspondence with geological science.

"[24] In 1886, he traveled to Cleveland during a streetcar strike, spoke at a public meeting on "Is it Peace or War," and supported the rights of the workers to form a union to protect their interests.

[30] His concern about social issues was grounded on his liberal theology that viewed the Church's mission as applying Christian values to secular institutions.

[31] Gladden served a term on the Columbus City Council between 1900 and 1902 and became an advocate of municipal ownership of public works.

[26] He resigned as President of the American Missionary Association to take up a position as the Moderator of the National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States in 1904.

In his 1909 autobiography Recollections, he wrote that, as a minister, he wanted to practice "a religion that laid hold upon life, and proposed first and foremost, to realize the Kingdom of God in this world.