Episode 229: Voices Other Than Our Own, Part Three--Basil the Great

Sometimes religious folks assume it's a new idea to say that Christians should advocate for sharing their resources and pursuing policies to help those most in need.  Sometimes you'll hear critics saying that's a recent invention called "the social gospel" but that "true" Christianity encourages people to get rich (or is at least silent about the goodness or badness of wealth, and indifferent about whether you have to share).  Sometimes you'll hear folks laud ancient church leaders for their doctrinal rigor and purity of belief but fall silent about their equally rigorous teaching on our life in community and use of wealth.  Maybe the issue isn't that ancient voices didn't talk about how Christians should use their resources, but that we stopped listening to them.  And maybe it's not really a new idea that God's kind of justice involves redistributing resources rather than hoarding them--maybe we just didn't have ears to hear what those older and wiser voices had been saying for centuries.  In this latest episode of our series looking at voices from outside our individual traditions, pastors Steve, Sarah, and Erica take a look at a 4th century church father named Basil the Great, who is not only remembered for his theological teaching about the Trinity and the Holy Spirit or leadership as a bishop, but also has a great deal to say about what 21st century minds would call "social justice."  Join in conversation with this refreshing, provocative, and yet ancient voice from an older brother in faith here on Crazy Faith Talk