The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Gladden, Washington
18361918, American clergyman, writer, and lecturer, b. Pottsgrove, Pa. He was pastor of the First Congregational Church, Columbus, Ohio, from 1882 until his death. He helped to popularize modernist views in such books as Burning Questions (1890) and Who Wrote the Bible (1891). An early proponent of the Social Gospel, he advocated application of Christian principles to social problems. Among his works are Working People and Their Employers (1876), Social Salvation (1902), and Recollections (1909).