A Biblical Theology of Social Justice

The term “social justice” is a slippery one, as each person sees in it their favourite causes or their pet peeves. As disciples of a God who consistently works through his people towards restoration and wholeness in his world however, Christians have a clear mandate to be about the work of God’s kingdom with him. As we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” we look to the history of how God calls his people – Abraham, Moses, Miriam, Deborah, David, John and Stephen, etc – to be about the work of his kingdom on earth. A Christian theology of social justice starts with God’s character and calling, and from there propels his people into joining God in his work of restoring his creation.

Mariam Kamell is Assistant Professor of New Testament Studies at Regent College, Vancouver. The majority of Mariam Kamell’s research has centred on the Epistle of James, with an MA thesis on the role of “wisdom” in the Epistle and a PhD thesis on the soteriology of the Epistle. Both of these projects involved extensive work in Jewish wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible and the intertestamental period as well as in the Gospel of Matthew. Mariam Kamell has co-authored a commentary on James (Zondervan), has published several articles in books and journals, and is currently working on a biblical theology of social justice (for Zondervan).

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