Gene Edward Veith
Does the book of Exodus provide a template for Biblical Social Justice?
God at Work: Loving God and Neighbor Through the Book of Exodus, a new book from Anthony Bradley, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Acton Institute and professor of interdisciplinary and theological studies at Kuyper College, is not another contribution to the Faith and Work movement. Nor is it another contribution to the recovery of the Christian doctrine of vocation (as in my book of the same title). Rather, Bradley’s book is a commentary on the Book of Exodus. But it, too, addresses how Christians are to live out their faith in the world.
In the biblical account of Moses and the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, Bradley says, “We’ll see a God who is deeply concerned about the suffering of his people, a God who acts powerfully to liberate them from oppression.” The plagues by which God persuades Pharoah to let his people go are “targeted judgments, systematically dismantling the political, economic, religious, and ecological pillars of Egyptian power.” The Passover is “the defining ritual of redemption, sealing God’s deliverance through substitutionary sacrifice and marking Israel as his protected people.” And the crossing of the Red Sea is “the ultimate demonstration of God’s power to save his people and judge their oppressors.” Through it all, Moses and the Israelites must overcome their self-centeredness to put their faith in God.
Afterward, in the wilderness, God’s people must learn to live in covenantal relationship with God and each other. According to Bradley, the holy living to which they are called includes promoting liberty and establishing social justice. And the whole story applies to Christians today in their personal lives, their life in the church, and their life in society—including their politics.
This book is not, however, a typical exercise in Biblical exposition. In his introduction, Bradley says that his treatment of Exodus draws on four other perspectives: a Calvinist Bible scholar; a neo-Calvinist social thinker; a modern mainline Protestant theologian; and a psychoanalyst.
Who are these thinkers? To begin, Gerard van Groningen (1921–2014) was a Dutch Bible scholar who stressed how Scripture is tied together by the themes of covenant, kingdom, and mediator.
Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) was a theologian and statesman who became the prime minister of The Netherlands. He is famous for saying, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: Mine!” Kuyper developed a thoroughgoing Christian social theology, including the concept of “sphere sovereignty,” which asserts that family, church, state, and other institutions each has its own unique but limited authority. Kuyper is well known to today’s evangelicals for his emphasis on “worldviews” and his influence on Christian activists such as Francis Schaeffer. But his insistence on God’s sovereignty over everything did not mean the sort of theocracy depicted in The Handmaid’s Tale. Rather, Kuyper, whose ideas led to today’s Christian Democratic parties in Europe, believed that biblical ethics require social justice. “Christians are called to reflect God’s justice and mercy in every sphere of life,” explains Bradley. “For Kuyper, this means God’s people must be actively involved in promoting justice, caring for the poor, and ensuring that society reflects the moral order laid out in Scripture.”
Most originally, Bradley also brings to bear psychology on his treatment of Scripture. He does so, first, by drawing on the thought of the modern “Christian realist” theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971). Human beings, Niebuhr taught, are finite and aware of their limitations; therefore, we are prone to anxiety. This existential anxiety can lead either to sin, such as pride and sensuality, or to faith, to dependence on God and love for others.
Bradley goes deeper into the nature of anxiety with the help of Karen Horney (1885–1952), a German psychoanalyst who immigrated to the U.S. and broke with Freud, “pioneering a cultural and relational approach to neurosis.” The childhood fear of helplessness in a hostile world, she believed, creates a “basic anxiety.” Adults continue to struggle with such anxiety, and they cope with it in one of three ways: “moving towards others (seeking approval or affection); moving against others (aggressively seeking control); or moving away from others (withdrawing emotionally).”
Bradley applies these four perspectives throughout his reading of Exodus. To give an example, here is how he discusses the rebellion of the Israelites in the desert:
Having just experienced God’s powerful deliverance at the Red Sea, they are now thrust into the unknown wilderness, a place where basic needs like water and food are uncertain. This abrupt transition from the structured familiarity of Egypt to the uncertainty of freedom provokes a crisis of emotional security. The Israelites’ grumbling at Marah and in the Desert of Sin can be seen as expressions of basic anxiety. Deprived of stability, they begin to display anxiety-driven responses. Their complaints reflect a desire to regain some sense of control, even romanticizing slavery as preferable to present uncertainty (Exod 16:3). These are classic symptoms of the inner conflict Horney described—responses to a loss of safety that can include blaming others, expressing hostility, or retreating into idealized past conditions. Rather than punishing this anxiety, God provides structure: daily manna, strict instructions, and the Sabbath rest. In Horneyan terms, this is a therapeutic response to neurotic anxiety—offering security through consistent, dependable provision.
The anxiety of the Israelites that at first led them to sin now leads them, in Niebuhr’s sense, to faith in God. Later, when the Israelites battle the Amalekites, they act in faith. “Rather than reacting out of anxiety, they embody a mature response—trusting in God while standing firm together.”
Most books about the Bible discuss the moral and theological significance of the biblical characters but few consider their psychology. “This multi-faceted approach—examining the theological currents, the psychological depths, and the social implications—is not merely an academic exercise,” writes Bradley. “It is a pathway to a more integrated faith, one that sees God at work in every sphere of life and calls us to respond to our whole beings.”
After Bradley describes these four perspectives in the introductory chapter, he begins his exposition of the first 24 of the 40 chapters of Exodus. He follows a rather unusual format, laying out 15 topical headings (e.g., “Spiritual Insights: Basic Anxiety,” “Covenant Relationship and Faithfulness,” “Liberty, Justice, and God’s Kingdom”). He then writes a paragraph on how the scripture passage under consideration addresses each of these topics.
He goes on to use the same 15 headings to address the next scripture passage, working his way in the same manner through the first two dozen chapters. Readers may find this approach repetitive, but it allows Bradley to focus tightly on his themes. And it no doubt works well for Bible studies and personal devotions.
It should also be noted that Bradley’s is very much a Reformed, Calvinist take on Exodus, with its in-depth verse-by-verse attention to the themes he is expounding, reminiscent of a Reformed preacher’s expository sermon with much talk of sovereignty, providence, covenants, the cultural mandate—and a this-worldly focus. Other Christians handle Scripture differently and with different theological assumptions.
We Lutherans, for example, see the Scriptures in soteriological terms, as bringing us to repentance through God’s law and to salvation through faith in the gospel of forgiveness through Christ and His atonement. Thus, Exodus speaks to us of our deliverance from the slavery of sin, which comes from the sacrifice of Christ, the lamb without blemish whose blood protected God’s people from the Angel of Death. The Passover meal in Exodus anticipates the Passover meal in which Christ instituted the sacrament of His body and blood given for our sins. The passage through the Red Sea is a baptism. (“Our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” [1 Cor. 10:1–2].) To be sure, that redemptive theme can be found in Bradley’s reading, minus the sacraments, but it is somewhat overshadowed by the moral, social, and psychological emphases.
But what all Christians should appreciate about Bradley’s book is that it gives us the outline of a biblical way of thinking about political, social, and even psychological issues that offers a theologically conservative approach to social justice. This is not the social justice demanded by the left, predicated on the will to power and the conflict between oppressor groups and victim groups. Rather, this biblical social justice is grounded in the justice of God. This is not Marxist critical theory. This is Calvinist critical theory. And there is a big difference.
* Gene Edward Veith is provost emeritus at Patrick Henry College, where he also served as professor of literature and interim president. He is also the author of over 25 books on the topics of Christianity and culture, literature, the arts, classical education, vocation, and theology.
Source: https://rlo.acton.org/archives/127629-calvinist-critical-theory.html
