It was on this date, February 8, 1819, that the English author and art critic John Ruskin was born in London. Few other writers of the Victorian-Edwardian era in Britain were as influential as Ruskin with his writings. His major works included Modern Painters (9 parts, 1843-46), and also The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) and The Stones of Venice (3 vols., 1851-53), both of which argued that architecture and morality are inextricably intertwined. In addition to his passion for architecture and art, Ruskin had a passion for social justice and progress. Although never a Christian, Ruskin’s musings on the interconnection of cultural, social and moral issues were influential on the development of Christian Socialism, which is a political movement that is both Christian and socialist…

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Originally published February 2003 by Ronald Bruce Meyer.