Wednesday, May 28, 2014

It's all in the definition

When we understand justice procedurally, the law becomes a conservative force—it operates to maintain the status quo because it is primarily concerned with carrying out rules. When we understand justice as a substantive, then law operates to transform society by instituting an equitable set of social relationships within society. This latter function was, of course, the concern of biblical law. The implication of this seems to be that only as justice passes this test, will it be shalom justice and lead to shalom. Shalom will not result from procedural justice alone.— Shalom, page 83 (emphasis original)

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