Archive for the ‘Doing Justice’ Category

Posted on February 8, 2011 - by Stephen Murray

The Roots of the Social Gospel?

A common line of rhetoric that I’ve encountered when talking about the issue of gospel proclamation vs. doing mercy and justice is to point back to the Social Gospel as a case in point where priorities were not correctly upheld and the church slipped into a gospel that was in fact no gospel at all. But is that the reality? Did the rise of the Social Gospel occur because of vigorous debate concerning priorities?

A brief reading of the history of the Social Gospel quickly shows this not to be the case at all but rather that the Social Gospel had it’s roots firmly anchored in higher criticism and theological liberalism. This was not a bunch of evangelicals debating with each other on how best to reflect the heart of God to their society, it was a bunch of ministers and leaders dissulussioned with the authority, infallibility and reliability of Scripture – men who doubted original sin, penal substitution and a host of other doctrines key to historic evangelical and reformed faith.

So I’m not so sure I’d use the line ‘…but we lost it once before’ in attempt to safe guard the priority of gospel proclamation over doing mercy and justice. As I pointed out last week, I think there’s a better way to approach the issue.

Posted on February 4, 2011 - by Stephen Murray

Mercy & Justice as an Issue of Godliness

A few days ago I was sitting in a seminar where the whole (old) issue of priorities came up regarding proclamation of the gospel and promoting mercy and justice initiatives (which one is more important). It seems to me that many are still failing to find adequate categories to express the issues at hand and it’s causing confusion (and possibly paralysis?).

Well a few days ago I stumbled upon a gem of theological insight by Mark Meynell in a post he wrote reviewing Tim Keller’s Generous Justice. Read this…

“Having lived in the two-thirds world for a number of years, it was impossible to ignore the  appalling conditions and social realities of people’s lives. It would have been callous to do so. That, in part, is why very few African friends understand the western church’s hang up on social action and evangelism. It’s a non-question for them. But in Generous Justice, Keller convincingly argues in a coherent, accessible and readable way why it should be non-question for us all. I sensed when we lived in Uganda, and I sense all the more strongly having read this book, that one mistake is to get lost in the intricacies of working out theoretical priorities (a necessary activity, of course). You start pitting this life against the next life and … well … it seems no contest.

But suppose we take the concern for justice out of the mission equation, just for a moment (don’t panic – I do think that it is an integral part of what God is doing on earth, which is why we should be involved. But bear with me just for a moment.) Instead, place justice and poverty in matters of holiness and discipleship and suddenly the landscape changes. It’s not then primarily a question of priorities. It’s a question of godliness. We don’t ask, ‘is it more important to be honest, humble or generous?’ That would be ludicrous. We shouldn’t expect to have to choose – we should strive after all three.”

Theological genius I tell you (read the rest of Mark’s post here).