Stephen Charles Mott's now-classic synthesis of a biblical basis for social ethics continues to resonate with theologians concerned for where Christian theology meets the social order. The author writes in part to address a number of imbalances. Scripture scholars are often more adept at linguistic and interpretive problems than ethical theory. Ethicists are not always trained biblical scholars, and even Christian ones often operate at some remove from the Gospel narratives. Moral and biblical theologians in recent decades often read Scripture through the deliberate pre-vision of political causes — Marxist, feminist, liberationist, and the like. The author also addresses a tendency to see the Christian life as a private affair worked out in vacuo from trying to change what believers might view as a hopelessly degraded and unmanageable mass society. Mott joins ethical inquiry to careful biblical scholarship, and does so with astute awareness of the religious import of contemporary social problems, and the clear Gospel injunction not to sit idly by. He counsels the avoidance of partisan “theological or social stances” or interpretive preoccupation with current trends in the seminar room (xi). Mott himself handles a range of social issues with refreshing firmness but subtlety. The second edition gives updated examples and tries to sharpen what remains the basic argument of the original (1982) edition.

The work is divided into two parts. The first examines a biblical basis for Christian ethics using basic theological concepts: social evil, love, grace, salvation, justice, and the Reign of God. The second part analyzes concrete options for social change. Chapter 1 discusses how evil is manifest in social arrangements and institutions. Society relies on institutions, such as governments, judicial bodies, and corporations, for stability and efficiency. They also embody concatenations of ethical decisions and values that stand in opposition to God. Social structures enjoy powerful influence over individual choices, while often proving resistant to reform. Mott argues social responsibility as a central message of the Bible, particularly in the New Testament (Chapter 2). Christianity is incompatible with a merely private devotional ethics or thinking that social action somehow reflects “a lack of trust in God's providential care” (20). Social responsibilities are intricately bound up with the life of faith. God's grace is given in the salvation offered by Christ's death. The Bible promises that persons receive supernaturally infused grace. Such grace is made manifest as God's love for persons, which calls forth active love of others and works of merciful justice (Chapters 3 and 4). Charitable love, as actively seeking the well-being of others, is the basis of Christian social ethics. It is the reason for law, while rightly ordered law gives content to love (41). Scripture implicitly recognizes human rights, the need for equality, respect, and due acknowledgement of common needs. It enjoins a preferential option for the poor. Believers seek justice in imitating divine justice. This effects “divine purpose in history” (84) and bolsters the Church in representing the Reign of God (Chapter 5).

Part Two, on “Paths to Justice” first warns that “none [of these paths] is sufficient by itself” (93). Chapter 6 emphasizes the need for evangelism, “communicating the Gospel in a way that requires a decision from the hearer” (93), in order to convert the self and world to God. The Reign of God is to be effected by authentic community (112). But activism often has to involve “strategic noncooperation” (Chapter 8) with oppressive social structures or corrupt legitimate ones (e.g., political, legal, corporate) to “recover God's purposes for human society” (123). Violence is weighed extremely carefully, and then only as a last resort. Politics must be the normal road to social change (Chapter 9). War or revolution must be subject to tightly defined, classical just-war theory. Mott does not think Christ's example forbids all violence, although Mott controversially offers that “it is questionable whether one could use force to defend oneself against violence” without violating the manner of trust in God he thinks Jesus asks (146–148).

Mott achieves a remarkable degree of the balance he calls for. The focus on socioeconomic aspects of social justice and the language will strike some readers as progressive in tone. Yet, Mott always keeps in view evenhanded biblical interpretation and his insistence on Christ's suffering as the model of endurance and restraint. Mott is clear, Christianity first calls one to individual faith and virtue, and faith is not subsumed by social activism or exclusively social concerns (95, 88). A former United Methodist Church pastor and Gordon-Conwell Seminary professor, Mott writes in a distinctively mainline Protestant vein; he is conversant in, but only modestly acknowledges, an extensive Catholic social tradition. The pages radiate a charitable kindness one could do well to imitate. Any scholar of religion and politics should consider meditating on the crucial themes of this excellent study.