What Every Christian Needs to Know about Social Justice

Book excerpt: At first glance, it appears that social justice and Christianity have a lot in common. They seem to share a few mutual concerns: they're both opposed to bigotry, racism, and oppression; they are mutually concerned for the needy, the afflicted, and the less fortunate within society; and they both seek to resolve conflict as they aspire after unity and peace. And with these shared concerns, it is tempting for Christians to buy into the validity of social justice. But as Jeffrey D. Johnson clearly and succinctly explains in just a few short chapters, social justice is incompatible with Christianity. Johnson takes us through the history of social justice and helps us understand its complex issues. This is a brief, to-the-point handbook every Christian should read to understand how contemporary definitions of social justice differ from what the Bible teaches about justice and how social justice seeks to destroy individual rights and the authority of the nuclear family and the conservative church.