Deus Misereatur

  John Perkins declares that this volume raises twelve of the right questions that we should all be asking in the midst of our troubled era. Therefore, he encourages us to read it with an open mind so that we’re not swept along into false answers that will lead us into more injustice. I couldn’t agree with Perkin’s assessment more! “Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth” by Thaddeus J. Williams, assistant professor of Systematic Theology for Talbot School of Theology, is a 288-page softback that graciously and thoughtfully leads readers to ask, and begin to answer, twelve important questions about social injustice. It’s not a diatribe, but a deliberate analysis of what is meant by social justice from a biblical perspective in contrast to a “post-postmodernist” standpoint. Since there are already hundreds of reviews, I will simply present a few of my observations.   Williams is clearly on the side of basic, orthodox Christianity. He doesn’t dismiss social justice...

  You can feel it in the air and taste it in the water. Something is afoot, and it’s hard to put your finger on it. Like a virus spreading from community to community, it seems to be creeping along and then suddenly come the symptoms of infection, and one wonders where they picked it up from and how to shield their loved ones from it. Scott Allen, president of the Disciple Nations Alliance and author, has sought to diagnose the ailment and how it spreads in his 256-page paperback “Why Social Justice Is Not Biblical Justice: An Urgent Appeal to Fellow Christians in a Time of Social Crisis”. This very accessible work presents a map through the various ideas and types of justice without getting lost in juridic language. Since “Why Social Justice Is Not Biblical Justice” is endorsed by Wayne Grudem and has received an abundance of reviews and analysis from others, including Tim Challies, I’ll leave the details to them. I found the book strong in definitions, distinguishing between va...

Social Justice vs. Biblical Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine the Gospel by E. Calvin Beisner My rating: 5 of 5 stars This wee booklet is an updated version of an earlier one. E. Calvin Beisner, Founder and National Spokesman of The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, and one-time professor at Covenant College and Knox Theological Seminary, has compiled a handy little dossier on what is biblical justice and what is its relation to society and culture. It is simple and straightforward, readable by those who have technical legal education as well as those who have moderate schooling. Older adults and mid-teens could profitably digest this pamphlet. Beisner has thoughtfully culled Scripture, answering those who have all-too-easily misused the Bible to foster this or that economic program or egalitarian plan. He is correct to see that "the poor" in Scripture are not necessarily the economically impoverished as much as it is those who are vulnerable to in...