Reconsidering Secularization and Recovering Christianity in Social Work History James R. Vanderwoerd This article explores contemporary social work’s uneasy and ambivalent relationship with its Christian origins by use of the concept of narrative. The argument is organized in three parts: first, the concept of narratives is used to describe the dominant secularization story in social work and identify some of the emerging alternative narratives. Second, the article explores in greater detail particular themes from historians of religion in Canada that challenge the interpretations and assumptions contained in the dominant seculariza- tion narratives of social work. Third, the article discusses the implications of these alternative narratives in one particular area that is currently relevant to social work— human rights—and shows how it has become captive to the secular narrative. The paper concludes with implications and challenges both for Christians and non-Christians in social work. I T HAS BEEN SAID THAT “CHRISTIANITY HAS BEEN LIKE THE FAMILY SILVER, an acknowledged but rarely examined major premise of the Anglo- American social work tradition” (Bowpitt, 1998, p. 676). Virtually every history of social work and social welfare mentions something about the Christian influences and connections of the 19 th and early 20 th centuries. However, as in Bowpitt’s metaphor of the “family silver,” most references to these Christian influences are portrayed as something from the past that has little if any current relevance to social work and social welfare today. This article explores contemporary social work’s uneasy and am- bivalent relationship with its Christian origins more deeply by use of Social Work & Christianity, Vol. 38, No. 3 (2011), 244–266 Journal of the North American Association of Christians in Social Work ARTICLES