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[thargan]

How much does the current secular philosophy creep in and affect biblical analysis vs how much is valid perspective? A good starting point would be in the area of social justice. I see a lot of progressive churches claim the Jesus was definitely a social justice reformer but it does not appear to be similar at all to our social justice movement.

[jimwalton]

That is a GREAT question. Thanks for asking it.

First of all, it's impossible not to be products of our culture and to see, well, mostly everything through the lens of our culture. We are raised with certain paradigms and views that can't be avoided. For instance, I can't help but view everything I see and read as an American. I know my view is very different from someone born in the Congo, Russia, Iran, or Bangladesh. That part is unavoidable.

Secondly, though, responsible scholars work very hard to be as objective as possible. One way, at least, to do that is to immerse oneself in the study of the ancient cultures of the Bible and their neighbors so that as much as possible we understand words the way they meant them and concepts in relation to their cultural context and therefore their intended meaning.

Third, and this pertains to your question, I think some Christians and pastors are all too willing to find in the Bible justification for what they want to believe. It seems that they read not to see what the Bible says, but rather to make the Bible say what they want it to say. It's a fault we all need to work against.

You asked particularly about social justice and Jesus being a social justice reformer. I agree with your perception. Because of His cultural context, what Jesus said and did with regard to social justice was very different from how we moderns think about it, especially in our hyper-sensitive identity-politics cancel-culture everything-is-racist or sexist context that would have been completely unknown to Jesus's way of thinking.

There is no doubt that Jesus's way of thinking was radical in His cultural context. He treated women with dignity and respect, He at times praised Gentiles more highly than Jews, and He gave great attention to the outcasts of society. He had only a little bit to say about wealth distribution. He didn't talk about personal liberty, civil rights, or what people were due from society, social mobility, class distinctions, public health, public services, or labor laws.

If there is something specific you want to discuss, I'd like you to bring that up so we can look at what Jesus says about it. Let's talk more.