Christians, Marxists, and the Workers Movement: The Case of Leonard Ragaz and Religious Socialism in Switzerland

The paper revisits the live and work of Leonhard Ragaz (1868-1945) in the current crisis mode of thinking. Born as son of a peasant family himself, Rev. Ragaz first aligned himself publicly with the workers movement in his famous brick mason strike sermon (Maurerstreikpredigt) in the Basel cathedral 1902. In 1921 he quit his professorship to live in a workers’ quarter in Zurich and devoted himself to workers education. Ragaz was convinced that Christians not only have to be always on the side of the weak, but they also must be socialists! He interpreted Socialism as judgement and promise for Christians. What can we learn from his vision of becoming human, the new human being and the Reign of the living God for a Pantopia against the New Normal?