The phrase "What would Jesus do?", often abbreviated toWWJD, became particularly popular in the United States in the early 1900s, following the 1896 novelIn His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? byCharles Sheldon.[1] The phrase saw a resurgence in the 1990s as a personalmotto forChristians, who used it as a reminder of their belief in themoral imperative in a way that demonstrated the love ofJesus through their actions.[2][3] The resurgence of the motto in the 1990s stemmed from the WWJD abbreviation on wristbands that became popular among Christian youth groups.[2][3][4]
The concept is based on theEpistle to the Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, wherePaul of Tarsus says that Christ lives in Christians and was developed with the doctrine of "Imitatio Christi" (imitation of Christ) byAugustine of Hippo in 400.[5]
TheRoman Catholic Church emphasizes the concept ofImitatio Christi (imitation of Christ), which is summarized in the English phrase "What Would Jesus Do?"[6]
Charles Spurgeon, a well-known evangelicalBaptist preacher in London, used the phrase "what would Jesus do" in quotation marks several times in a sermon he gave on June 28, 1891.[7] In his sermon he cites the source of the phrase as a book written in Latin byThomas à Kempis between 1418 and 1427,Imitatio Christi (The Imitation of Christ).
The Rev. A.B. Simpson, founder of theChristian and Missionary Alliance Church, wrote both the lyrics and music of a Gospel Hymn "What Would Jesus Do" with a copyright date of 1891. It can be found at #669 inHymns of the Christian Life.[8]
Charles Sheldon's 1896 bookIn His Steps was subtitled "What Would Jesus Do?"[2][9] Sheldon's novel grew out of a series of sermons he delivered in hisCongregationalist church inTopeka, Kansas. Unlike the previous nuances mentioned above, Sheldon's theology was shaped by a commitment toChristian socialism. Theethos of Sheldon's approach to the Christian life was expressed in this phrase "What Would Jesus Do", with Jesus being a moral example as well as a Saviour figure.[10] Sheldon's ideas coalesced with those that formed into theSocial Gospel espoused byWalter Rauschenbusch. Indeed, Rauschenbusch acknowledged that his Social Gospel owed its inspiration directly to Sheldon's novel,[11] and Sheldon himself identified his owntheology with the Social Gospel.[11]
Due to a mistake by the original publisher, the copyright for Sheldon's novel was never established and multiple publishers were able to print and sell the novel. This caused the novel to be easily affordable and it sold 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the top 50 bestselling novels ever.[2]
In this popular novel (it had been translated into 21languages by 1935), Rev. Henry Maxwell encounters ahomeless man who challenges him to take seriously the imitation ofChrist. The homeless man has difficulty understanding why, in his view, so many Christians ignore the poor:
I heard some people singing at a church prayer meeting the other night,
"All for Jesus, all for Jesus,
All my being's ransomed powers,
All my thoughts, and all my doings,
All my days, and all my hours."
and I kept wondering as I sat on the steps outside just what they meant by it. It seems to me there's an awful lot of trouble in the world that somehow wouldn't exist if all the people who sing such songs went and lived them out. I suppose I don't understand. Butwhat would Jesus do? Is that what you mean by following His steps? It seems to me sometimes as if the people in the big churches had good clothes and nice houses to live in, and money to spend for luxuries, and could go away on summer vacations and all that, while the people outside the churches, thousands of them, I mean, die in tenements, and walk the streets for jobs, and never have a piano or a picture in the house, and grow up in misery and drunkenness and sin."[12]
This leads to many of the novel's characters asking, "What would Jesus do?" when faced with decisions of some importance. This has the effect of making the characters embrace Christianity more seriously and to focus on what they see as its core – the life of Christ.
In 1993, Garrett W. Sheldon (great-grandson of the original author) and Deborah Morris publishedWhat Would Jesus Do? : a contemporary retelling of Charles M. Sheldon's classic In His Steps. Garrett Sheldon states that his updated version "is based on many actual events in the lives of believers."[13]
It is possible that Sheldon was familiar with either Spurgeon or Thomas, or that he was independently inspired.
At Calvary Reformed Church,[14] inHolland, Michigan, a youth group leader named Janie Tinklenberg began agrassroots movement to help the teenagers in her group remember the phrase; it spread worldwide in the 1990s among Christian youth, who wore bracelets bearing the initials WWJD.[2][15][16] Later, a sequel bracelet was generated with the initials "FROG," to provide an answer to "WWJD." FROG was an acronym for "Fully Rely On God."[17]
In 2005, Garry Wills wrote "What Jesus Meant", in which he examined "What Would Jesus Really Do" (also a book review inEsquire Magazine).
A trio of films were released under theWWJD moniker. The first, starringJohn Schneider andAdam Gregory, was released in 2010.[18] The 2012 filmThe Woodcarver used the monikerWWJD II, with similar themes but different characters.[19] Schneider returned for the 2015 film, subtitledThe Journey Continues.[20]
The expression has become asnowclone with the promotion of phrases such as "What would Lincoln do?",[21] "What wouldReagan do?",[22] and "What Would Brian Boitano Do?"
In recent years, largely among Protestant and Catholic circles, the catch phrase "What Would Jesus Do" has become popular. The phrase is an attempt to call people to consider how Jesus Christ might respond to personal situations in daily life. While the idea of thinking about Jesus Christ might respond in a given situation is not new, the popularity of the catch-phrase "What Would Jesus Do?" or WWJD, has increased. Bracelets, keychains, T-shirts, bumper stickers, and other items initialized with WWJD have become commonplace.
What would Jesus do?" has its roots, Shore explains, in the tradition of imitatio Christi - that is, of imitating the life of Christ. In this tradition, which dates back to early Christianity, a true believer might imitate Jesus by giving to the needy, traveling to the Holy Land, or, in the case of Saint Francis of Assisi, "receiving the stigmata, the bodily marks of Christ's suffering." Imitatio Christi encouraged Christians to "do as Jesus did.
