The Incarnational Theology of William Temple and Dorothy Day: Trans-Atlantic perspectives on Class and Labor with global structures of Capitalism

Dorothy Day and Archbishop William Temple were leading proponents of wide-scale restructuring of capitalist-oriented structures, which they believed were inhibiting the welfare and rights of working-class people. They both were impacted by the 1929 Wall Street financial crash, and its aftermath in the Great Depression, leading to their advocacy for the rights of workers. The theological premise of their social activism should thereby be understood as a shared value for the Incarnation and its social ramifications, which this paper proposes to investigate. This particular outlook constitutes new research which has not been previously highlighted in the scholarship (contrary to e.g., Spencer 2022 and Hinson-Hasty 2014, both assessing Temple and Day independently).

The doctrine of the Incarnation was the theological basis of their distinctive social teaching, due to their respective value for its promotion of the equal dignity of all humanity. This equality of shared dignity, stemmed from the doctrine’s central premise, which in essence asserted that God’s incarnation into the world in the Person of Jesus Christ, revealed God’s own desire to embody human life. It was the embodiment of all humanity, with the intention of redeeming all human life in Christ’s redemptive action of the Cross. The social ramification of such a theology also shaped their shared Christology, a Christology which affirmed that Christ chose to embody human life as a marginalized, impoverished working man. Christ, in His human nature was the ultimate worker and model of working life. This incarnationally centered Christology, informed how both Day and Temple advocated for the Church to became a leader in denouncing financial structures which were geared for profit at the expense of workers and their livelihoods. Temple and Day respectively highlight the theological significance of the doctrine of the Incarnation and its sociological impact in arguing that the presence capitalist oriented financial structures, did not sustain equitable conditions for a sustained labor force. Such discrimination directly impacted the question of class by disempowering working class laborers to reach their full economic, intellectual and emotional potential. They both affirmed the doctrine of the Incarnation, exposed these injustices by its emphasis on the equality of all humanity and their material needs.  

Temple’s core texts, Mens Creatrix (1917), Christus Veritas (1924) and Nature, Man and God (1935), all refer of the social implications of the doctrine of the Incarnation. Day’s core texts, The Long Loneliness (1952) From Union Square to Rome (1938) and Loaves and Fishes (1963), align with Temple’s incarnationally centered social teaching. Though theologically aligned, their social teaching were marked by both contrasts and convergences, many of which influenced by their distinct trans-Atlantic identities (respectively British and American). As a Catholic lay-woman, Day established the Catholic Worker Movement, to directly address the chronic poverty and degradation resulting from the Great Depression. Her appeal for American Catholicism, was shaped by her conviction that it represented the vast majority of impoverished, migrant, working class population of the United States in this period. She spoke with no authority as a church leader, yet she argued convincingly, that capitalism was inherently positioned to directly impact the welfare status of catholic working people, whose quality of life was markedly less, in stark contrast to that of their predominantly protestant employers. Such marginalization also included questions of systemic religious bigotry, race and gender, as well aggressive economic marginalization. In contrast, Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple’s life reflects the elitism of the British class system. The ecclesiological implications of such divides were complex, as not all church leaders agreed that it was the place of the established church to directly engage questions concerning public advocacy for workers’ rights and their associated welfare and protection. Within a predominantly postindustrial Britain, Temple recognized those who disproportionally benefitted financially from capitalist-oriented structures, were clearly the upper and middle classes. Temple’s willingness to be President of the Workers Education Association (WEA) exposed him to direct contact with working people. Within this capitalist-oriented environment, he identified the fundamental need to reform national education, welfare and employment sectors so to empower working people to reach their full human potential.

In each case, Temple and Day believed strongly that such reforms were of critical importance primarily on theological grounds. From their perspective, the social dimension of the doctrine of the Incarnation was counter culture to capitalist-oriented structures which promoted the greatest profit for the least expense. The particular national characteristics which underlined such global movements, stood against the theological conviction that humanity was dignified by the Incarnation. Day advocated for a distributism form of financial system which promoted worker ownership of industry, in order to stimulate adequate production in meeting the material needs of workers. Government intervention in such a system was minimal, so workers welfare was protected from particular political influences. In contrast, Temple believed that it was governments role to enable a financial system which included direct worker operation as well as advocate for a living wage, which met workers essential needs. The ethical implications of such reforms required a fundamental reordering of global oriented capitalism movements and replace them with financial and social structures which reflected the theological values of the doctrine of the Incarnation. 

Gender, class, religious status, economic and national status all marked Day and Temple as two strikingly contrasting Christian social thinkers. Yet, their common belief in the equality of humanity, informed by their mutual incarnationally centered theology produced strikingly similar teachings. These teachings addressed questions of class and labor within a framework of necessary overhauls of the existing capitalist-oriented systems in each country in order to produce a just economic sector which measured the questions of labor and class by their capacity to embody incarnationally centered principles of equality and justice. These incarnationally centered principles speak with timeless relevance to questions of injustice and inequality concerning labor and class in every age. In fact, from a Christian perspective, the challenge for the church and contemporary public theologians is to make direct connections between the doctrine of the incarnation and its sociological implications where present forms of capitalist-oriented influences negatively impact labor and race within a global context. 

Spencer, Stephen. Archbishop William Temple: A Study in Servant Leadership. London: SCM Press, 2022.

Hinson-Hasty, Elizabeth. Dorothy Day: For Armchair Theologians. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014.