Social Justice vs. Social Redemption
[religion]
Over at unorthodoxology, there was an interesting post about the concept of ’social justice’ in the context of Christianity. It says:
But Jesus isn’t about giving us what we deserve, but about opening us up to each other in radical ways.
I would much rather hear us talking about “social redemption” instead of “social justice.” We as Christians should be working to redeem society, offering a path toward transformation and the ability to realize that the redemption we seek will redeem us as much as the thing we seek to redeem.
I think that’s a great point. After all, in the Christian view, the entire point of the Incarnation is to save us from just condemnation for our sins. The beauty of Christ’s life is that is he was focused on redemption, not on justice proper.
This doesn’t mean that ’social justice’ is a concept without value; after all, the God of the Bible is certainly viewed as just. But in the Incarnation, Law was replaced by Grace – and this means that the focus of the Christian life, in seeking to transform the world, must be on redemption.
if god is entirely just and entirely merciful, i expect the concepts of social justice and social redemption are not mutually exclusive, or even opposites.
what if justice was a kind of redemption? or even ultimate redemption?
{i really will retype the lost comment on the previous post at some point}
I think that this is a great argument against the death penalty. Those who are on death row are given the message that they are beyond redemption and unforgivable. Sure, the majority of these people are violent criminals but they are no more guilty of sin than I. Social Justice seems to be more of “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” mentality, one which Jesus specifically taught against. How can we continually assert our “Christian Supremacy” complex on other religions and cultures when we can’t even follow what Jesus taught?