Image of God: The Biblical story of Creation in Genesis 1 suggests that God created humanity in ‘the image of God’. On the basis of this, Christian teaching has asserted the equal worth of all people, since every person is made in God’s image.
Preferential option for the poor: The Bible asserts the belief that God stands close to the powerless and judges the powerful who oppress people who are vulnerable. The preferential option for the poor is an idea that is central to liberation theology and to the public statements of contemporary Churches about structural injustice. The concept suggests that in an unjust society the God of creation who made and loves all people equally necessarily has a preferential option for the poor, not because all poor people are saints and all rich people are sinners but because poverty contradicts the will of God.
Common Good: Reference to the ‘Common Good’ is common in the description of Christian social action by Church leaders. The concept arises from Catholic Social Teaching and is used as an ethical vision of an inclusive and egalitarian society within which all people are able to fulfil their potential and a means of judging the impact of social policy on social inclusion, social cohesion and social justice.