What Does 'Social Justice' Mean?

One of the most notable features of American evangelicalism in the last generation has been a powerful surge toward â??social justice.â? At times it is no different than the old-fashioned social gospel, at times it simply catches up to mainline Protestantism â?? and most of the time evangelicals have completely ignored the rigorous and comprehensive thinking on â??social justiceâ? on the part of Roman Catholics. Whatever one makes of it â?? and Iâ??m both deeply appreciative of the commitment to justice and at the same time concerned that it becomes far too political â?? one canâ??t deny the radical commitment to social justice on the part of evangelicalism. In the days of fundamentalism, so the story goes, social justice fell off the table.