Tim Keller's 'Generous Justice' Book Review - Megan Saunders

Why Tim Keller’s ‘Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just’ should be one of your first reads on the theology of social justice, but not your last...

'...a true experience of the grace of Jesus Christ inevitably motivates a man or woman to seek justice in the world’ (page ix)

When you approach the term ‘social justice’ from a Christian worldview, many questions may come to mind.

Isn’t that a secular term?

Isn’t the New Testament all about grace and mercy, not justice?

Shouldn’t evangelism be the priority of the Church today?

This world is pretty messed up already, and we know that God will bring ultimate justice one day, so why should we even try now?

I thought only oat-milk-drinking hippies were into this kind of stuff?

What does ‘doing justice’ even look like in today’s world?

Well, wherever you fall on the spectrum between being a ‘social justice warrior’ and thinking it’s a fad, this book is for you and provides some important and well-thought-out answers to these questions.

The chances are, if you’re reading this via the Just Love Bristol website, you’re already ‘sold’ on the biblical call to social justice - I’d still recommend you give it a read. This book gave me some vocabulary for and foundational theology behind what was a gut instinct already; that Jesus is deeply concerned about justice, and we should be too.

Just so you know what you’re getting yourself into, Keller works through the topic in a very methodical and helpful way, with the chapters as follows:

0. Why Write This Book?

1. What Is Doing Justice

2. Justice and the Old Testament

3. What Did Jesus Say About Justice?

4. Justice and Your Neighbour

5. Why Should We Do Justice?

6. How Should We Do Justice?

7. Doing Justice in the Public Square

8. Peace, Beauty, and Justice

Keller covers content from the Old Testament into the New, dissecting different philosophies, approaches, and political views from a Christian standpoint. Other topics include racism, the role of the Church in society, and working with non-Christians towards social justice, with some unpacking of the original Hebrew terms for good measure.

This book left me with a clear and burning sense of why we, as Bible-believing Christians, should ‘do justice’, but I’m left with questions about how to implement this in my own life and church. Keller offers a strong foundation to build upon and a great overview, covering many aspects, but as to what this looks like more practically, and to look into any of the aspects more deeply, you should check out some other books!*

I would recommend lending this book to any Christian friends who aren’t ‘sold’ on the whole social justice shebang. Keller’s unpacking of the relationship between social justice and evangelism is a bit mind-boggling but sums up the tension well. (Spoiler: you need both!)

I’ll leave you with this quote from the book and a question:

“We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that remains alone. True faith will always produce a changed life […] A life poured out in deeds of service to the poor is the inevitable sign of any real, true, justifying, gospel-faith.” (page 99)

What gifts has God given you (think time, money, energy, skills, passions) that you could use to help the poor?

This book is available from: https://www.eden.co.uk/shop/generous-justice-4012875.html or I could lend you mine!

*Have a peruse of these to get you started: https://justloveuk.com/get-involved/just-love-top-5/top-5-theology-books