Dr. Ralph W. Sockman: noted New York City pastor, author, radio speaker

              1933

Figure

232
Authentic Interpreter of Present Day Problems

Dr. Ralph W. Sockman
Noted New York City Pastor, Author, Radio Speaker

REDPATH




DR. RALPH W. SOCKMAN
Pastor Christ Church, New York City
Recent years have added the name of Ralph W. Sockman to the roster of America's distinguished men.  He is one of the great present day leaders of thought.  He is not a detached theorist.  He is in the thick of life where daily arise the problems which he discusses.  He also speaks from the background of many years of College and University study.  He is a Doctor of Philosophy of Columbia University.

As an author, Dr. Sockman's penetrating diagnosis of present day trends in thought and life comprise authoritative contributions which are widely quoted.  His discussions of public issues bring forth terse headlines in the Metropolitan Press, and frequently bring comments to the editorial columns.

His Radio Lectures and Sermons over a Nation-wide network create an interest which brings recognition from every section of the country.


From the New York Press
The following headlines and excerpts are reprints from the New York press and The Literary Digest, reporting Dr. Sockman's pulpit utterances on important public issues.


The Literary Digest
Most Lavish Church is Most Democratic
Usually in New York when a church congregation moves to a Fifth or Park Avenue location, it becomes exclusive.  But to prove the rule by exception, the Madison Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church recently moved into a new handsome structure on Park Avenue in the midst of the elite residential area and became more democratic.  It changed its name to Christ Church, eliminating the denominational title, and took steps to do away with the outworn system of renting pews to members.

Through tart, epigrammatic sermons delivered to consistently large congregations and over a large radio network, Dr. Sockman has become recognized as an outstanding Methodist spokesman in the country.  His books and lectures have added to his followers.  He is a well-known figure on Monday morning sermon pages of New York newspapers.

Tall, mustached, sleek and only forty-four years old Dr. Sockman is known for his pointed comments on topics of the day.  A few of his epigrams delivered in sermons are:

We have pork barrels in Congress because we have hogs at home.

Our exportation of Chrisitanity is hindered by inferior quality of the home product.

It is unfortunate when a revolt against convention becomes extended into a convention of revolt.

Our trouble with philanthrophy is that it is de-personalized.

Living conditions affect religious belief just as truly as belief in God affects conditions of life.

Dangerous as are the currents of lawlessness even more sinister are the social inertia and evasions of the so-called decent man on the street.

The danger of the machine age lies in men having authority over great mechanical forces but with the moral conceptions of a pigmy.



New York Herald-Tribune
Legal System of U. S. Decried As Too Elastic
Dr. Sockman Calls Delays in Meeting Justice Worse Than Laxity of Police



Religion Called Means Of Fusing World Thought
Dr. Sockman Feels Pulpit Should Weld Specialized Careers Into An Entity.  Deplores Tendency to Put Blame on Leadership.



Per Capita Cost of Saving Souls Held Excessive
Dr. Sockman Asserts Depression Will Purge Religion of Overorganization.  Decries Church Rivalry.  Believes Social and Parish Agencies Are Overlapping.



New York Evening Journal
(By Claude G. Bowers, noted political writer)

But there must be a real change—a new deal.  A New York minister Sunday—Rev. Dr. Ralph W. Sockman—said all when he said:

Putting new men into old systems deserves the same divine criticism as the putting of new wine in old bottles.  We must change the system of privilege which continues to corrupt their possessors.



The New York Times
Ethical Codes For The Man Of Tomorrow
(From a review of Dr. Sockman's much discussed book—MORALS OF TOMORROW—by Dino Ferrari, New York Times critic.)

The author of this book is not of the type and caliber of the traditional moral reformer that we have become accustomed to see lampooned in print and color.  On the contrary, he reveals himself as a very liberal and advanced thinker.

With no trace of malice and with perfect candor and courage he subjects to the same scrutiny exponents of Rousseauistic instinctive naturalism, doctors of divinity who have failed to keep pace, Behaviorists, Freudians, secular humanists.

Dr. Sockman is enought of a realist to keep his feet on the ground.  He can look scientific facts right in the face without blinking and yet go beyond them and read in them larger spiritual meanings than they, in themselves, would seem to disclose at first sight.

He outlines the path we must follow to get there.  The man of tomorrow before he can reach that higher region of spiritual peace and happiness, must first become truly socially minded and think in scope of the greatest happiness of the greatest number.



Sockman Warns of New 'Dark Age'
Deplores Pessimistic Thinking That We Are Helpless In Hands Of The Machine

'Magic Formula' No Cure

Humanity must take care lest it fall into a dark modern age as society did in the Middle Ages.

Ours, he said, is a time when people are prone to turn to magic as a substitute for mastery.




Lecture Subjects:

MASTERING THE MACHINE AGE
Is man able to master the machine or is he to become its slave?
What is the machine doing to man's own estimate of himself?
The machine is making life easier physically and harder morally.  How can we develop character competent to handle our lengthened leisure?
The machine age is bringing us closer together physically and yet farther apart socially.  How can we bridge these social chasms?
Are we headed for a Dark Modern Age, comparable to the Dark Middle Ages?

PATRONS OR PARTNERS
THE NEW RENAISSANCE
MORALS OF TOMORROW



Printed in U. S. A.