This sudden popularity of global justice has caught some older evangelicals off guard. They are concerned that the under-40 crowd is abandoning conservative theology in favor of a social gospel. What they fail to realize is that my generation is not rejecting Christian orthodoxy. We are rejecting the false dichotomy that the American church has perpetuated for the last century. We refuse to believe that the message of Christ is either social or spiritual, eternal or temporal. Earlier generations of evangelicals were more interested in saving souls than seeking justice because a cup of cold water would be little comfort in the flames of hell. But my generation cannot shake the global perspective imprinted on our minds from our childhoods. The gospel, we believe, must have relevance for this world and not simply the next.
But those, like me, who welcome this more holistic understanding of Christ's mission in the world need to pause and ask why the younger generation is awakening to issues of social justice. Some would like to believe it's because we're actually reading our Bibles more faithfully -- including the sections often overlooked in the past that speak of God's concern for the poor, marginalized, abused, and exploited. Some think evangelicals are awakening to social justice as they interact more with Roman Catholic and Mainline Protestants who have a robust and established theology of justice. But there may be more than the Bible behind this revival of justice among younger evangelicals. There may also be Boeing.
Skye Jethani (author of one of my favorite books of last year: Divine Commodity) writes about how globalization has re-introduced "justice" as a reality in the evangelical conversations, especially amongst the younger generations. Interesting article, for sure.