Paper short abstract:

This paper explores moral discourses in evangelical Christianity regarding social justice, particularly sex/human trafficking. It draws on ethnographic research to argue that a 'post modern turn' is bringing changed understandings as to what constitutes 'justice' for this particular religious group.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores moral discourses in evangelical Christianity around concepts of social justice, in particular sex and human trafficking. There has been a substantial increase in the number of evangelical Christians who are becoming interested in, and participating with, initiatives that have an emphasis on social justice issues. This is a change in focus from previous evangelical missionary activity which focused mainly on proselytizing and 'soul winning'. This paper draws on ethnographic research conducted amongst a group of people who were students at a 'justice based' Christian training school in New Zealand. Data collection consisted of participant observation of the course lectures, and fourteen interviews with course students from eight different countries.

Evangelicalism is currently in the thick of a post-modern upheaval as regards to its core orthodoxy and praxis. A changing view of God and how he is perceived to engage with justice seems to be one of the main drivers that is causing an increase in social justice activism, especially amongst younger evangelicals. I argue that most of the literature on evangelical engagement with social justice fails to understand the nuances of current evangelical moral discourses and what constitutes 'justice' for this particular religious group in the early twenty first century.