Journey Toward South 1

Journey Toward Justice

By Nicholas Wolterstorff

Baker Academic

2013

This is the first chapter of the book. In this chapter Nick tells the story of how he came to believe that he got a call from God through the words of the ones wronged and  that he needs to speak up for the wronged ones. He did not have such a conviction earlier, but after having gone through certain experiences his understanding of things changed. There are two experiences that he tells in the book. 

The first is his encounter of Apartheid in South Africa in a Conference in 1975. In the Conference, he heard and saw blacks and coloured people speaking out angrily about the dehumanising experiences they faced daily due to state policy called Apartheid. The Afrikaners deflected the charge by saying that such a policy was required to enable different people group to maintain their ways of life. They further said that they showed benevolence to these blacks and coloured people by giving them used clothes occasionally, food during Christmas etc. The Afrikaners did not see the issue in term of justice vs. injustice. But Nick saw the issue through the lens of justice vs. injustice. 

The second episode was when Nick was invited for a Conference on Palestinian rights in 1978. He saw and heard from Palestinian themselves about injustice meted out to them. 

Nick asks two questions in this chapter. First, why can't benevolence substitute for justice? Second, why did certain people look into the same eyes, yet not saw the issue as matter of justice/injustice while others saw it that way. Nick defers the answer to later chapters.