Friday, August 28, 2015

Journey Toward Justice 17

This 17th chapter is titled 'Justice and Love'. This is a very important chapter, and here Nick makes some very key theological and philosophical points for his concept of justice. I won't be able to do justice to his chapter here; and so I would really urge readers to read it for herself. 

In the New Testament, Jesus gives the command when asked -- Love the Lord and also love your neighbour as yourself. Nick expands on the second part i.e love your neighbour as yourself. He does that by going back to the Old Testament text from which Jesus quoted his points. In the Old Testament where this point occurs (Lev. 19), Moses was giving a code of conduct for Israel to follow with regard to how to treat the 'other'. 'do not oppress your neighbour... be impartial to the poor..do not slander your neighbour... do not hate your brother...' kind of moral sanction is found in this passage. And Moses concludes, so to speak, by saying love your neighbour as yourself. Meaning, just as you are concerned for your own well-being, be concerned for the well-being of your neighbour. That is what it means to love your neighbour. Being just in your conduct with the neighbour is to love the neighbour!

But the question emerges: Can I love those who are really evil? Can I love a serial killer? Or work for his well-being? Nick's answer to this question is really illuminating. This is an area that I have wondered on how to address the question. And Nick's work is really helpful. Since this is a very important point, I would urge the reader to go through the book. 


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