ABSTRACT
The essays in Part I provide a selective overview of the evolution of secular and religious concepts of social justice in nations and cultures around the globe. This international focus is important because most contemporary discussions of social justice reflect both universalist and temporal fallacies. First, they often assume that social justice, particularly as it is conceived in the West, is either embraced or rejected in its entirety throughout the world, and that cultures that articulate a view of social justice share similar goals, values, and ideological perspectives. They also assume either that the concept of social justice emerged only in modern times or that the concept is fixed-i.e., that people defined social justice in the same way throughout history. Finally, they assume that whatever societal differences exist regarding the meaning of social justice can easily be reconciled in practice through the development of a common framework such as human rights.
