I typically eschew twitter debates. How can one make the necessary moves in argument with a constraint like 140 characters? How do you develop an account of subtle differend (to use Lyotard's word) that is at once open and committed? Today, though, I was inadvertently drug into one, which I promptly exited, over the contrasts between capitalism, socialism and distributism. This guy wanted to tell me Jesus was a socialist. I disagreed. But I couldn't develop my argument fast enough with just 140 characters. Jesus does have a "preferential option for the poor". He speaks quite a bit about the kindness of the Gospel toward the disenfranchised. He condemns personal greed. But it's quite a jump from there to say he was a socialist. (Pro proto-socialist, at best. But even then I'm not sure.) If Acts is any indication, the Church took such Kingdom economics seriously. Acts 5 comes immediately to mind. So ...
A "restless" theologian in service to the church of Jesus Christ