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Augustine's thought on justice offers enduring wisdom to today's undergraduates as they grapple with the difficult questions that arise when they ponder what it means to change the world in the light of the reality of injustice in this world. By juxtaposing Augustine's theological writings on the nature of justice and power within the earthly and heavenly cities with Augustine's letters that demonstrate his public engagement with injustice, we learn how Augustine thought about justice and how his convictions intersected with his practice. Through exposure to Augustine's life and thought, students can be encouraged to wrestle with the existence of injustice, their complicity in its existence, their understanding of justice, and what it takes to seek justice today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Christian public theology extends reconciliation beyond its principal sacramental con-cern for relationships between God and penitent to the construction of 'socially just' public relationships for the settlement of intra-national conflict. In theological terms, reconciliation brings public relationships into what Hally calls 'the Christ narrative of passion, death and resurrection' in which the perpetrators of injustice repent and seek forgiveness. This article introduces the conflicts that these discourses aim to resolve in Australia, Fiji and New Zealand and explains and contrasts reconciliation's relative importance in each of these jurisdictions. Moreover, the article's cross-jurisdictional comparison shows reconciliation's limits and possibilities as public theology, and argues that in Australia and New Zealand it has helped to create political environments willing to admit indigenous perspectives on a range of policy issues. On the contrary, however, the article also shows that the Fijian churches have distorted the concept of reconcilia-tion to support political imperatives that are difficult to rationalize theologically, even though they are presented by the churches as being concerned with religious goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Job's final theophany is puzzling. In fact, far from being a display of God's omnipotence, it is a confession of divine weakness: God needs Job/the human to fight evil in creation-the latter is here de-moralized, only restrained but ever threatened by inhuman forces, at times monstrous). The persistence of evil torments the innocent (Abel, Job, Jesus, the martyrs of the Shoah ...). Job's theme is highlighted from the outset in 1:8-12 where God's insecurity is manifest, depending as it is on an unpredictable human response (1:9). The central point is that there is no deus ex machina as there is no human robot. Job's insistence on this becomes subversive as it routs the principle of distributive justice and promotes one of disinterested righteousness. When Job realizes that his former complaints were a miscarriage of justice toward God, he repents. That is, he realizes that his claimed surplus of justice implied a deficiency of love. At this point, Job proves that he, at least, reveres God without expecting any reward (see 1:9). The satan is defeated and God comes out vindicated by his creature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The starting point for thinking about divine command is the reality of God, the initiating and effecting word of God and the character of God, reflected in Scripture especially in regard to goodness and justice. The necessity of social interaction as context for divine command is reflected in several ways; among those mentioned here are the divine council, the covenant, and the incarnation, the word made flesh and living among us. The covenant is central to thinking about divine commands as they are reflected in Scripture. It presumes a relationship between God and those commanded and is a voluntary association. Obedience to the divine commands results from the goodness of God and is only to the Lord. As such the ethic of command becomes also an ethic of response. Rather than being commands to be obeyed without reason or thought and only because they are commanded by God, the divine commands of Scripture and the law generally involve rationality and persuasion, teaching and interpretation. They chart a way of freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the insights of Thomas Aquinas on original sin and original justice. The harmonious state preceding the Fall of man is the original justice. Original sin, on the other hand, results from the rejection of Adam and Eve to the state of innocence. Further discussed is the origin of original sin, its relation to original justice, and it is destroyed by Incarnation.

Focuses on a measure of distributive justice that involves the use of power. Information on political stability; Details of the Christian teaching of justice and Christian universalism; Discussion on the just war doctrine and Humanitarian intervention.

Analyzes Samuel Huntington's perception of Islam in light of the world events after the September 11 terrorist attack in the U.S. Claim of Huntington of Islam's culpability for the ills of the world; Distinction between Islam and Muslim; Recognition of the difference within Muslim groups due to political states and themselves; Absence of any standard on the Muslim's definition of social injustice and its dispensation.

Focuses on the revision of the statute of the international court of justice. Composition of the court; Jurisdiction; Parties to the procedure before the court; Organization and functioning of the court.

Discusses the issue of human integrity as overshadowed by questions on divine justice and innocent suffering in the book of `Job.' Discussion on the justification of humans before God; Explanations on the silence of Job on his predicaments; Comparison of the testimonies of Qohelet and Eliphaz; Implications for the book's conclusion.

Presents several articles on significant events in the history of the ecumenical movement based on personal perspective of various authors related to the movement. Concern over the East-West tension, North-South imbalance, and ecological crisis; Gospel imperative of justice and the rise of contextual theologies; Integration of International Missionary Council with the World Council of Churches.

Explores the biblical concept of power and people's struggles for peace and justice. Powers of oppression and liberation; Participation of churches into the movement towards an unambiguous confession of Christ; Effects of the 'Power of the Beast' over global resources and the minds of people.

The article reports on plans of lesson to involve concepts of justice and biblical references. Topics include considered that expressions of Christian faith and understandings of Church mission are oftentimes contextual; focuses on the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong that are illustration demonstrating many Christian communities outside Europe and North America that do not avoid political activism.

The article looks on the Kairos movement as a vehicle for justice, peace and liberation in the Holy Land (Palestine). An overview on connecting the emergence of the movement from within the struggles of anti-apartheid in South Africa, is provided. Also emphasized is the use of an extensive theological assessment on the spread, development and relevance of the movement in response to the Palestinian call of liberation and solidarity.

This article focuses more on the function of Scripture than its origin, although it will briefly address the key texts of the Bible's own witness to its nature. What is the role of the Spirit in assisting readers of Scripture, especially when individuals and congregations face daunting questions about suffering and evil, human sexuality, political perspectives that war against peace and justice, and non-biblical forms of faith and spirituality? Practices of discernment are critical for decision-making; however, the role of the Holy Spirit in them seems indeterminate, at best. Hence, this constructive exercise will address the aligning of pneumatology and spiritual practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catholic-sponsored social work programs can look to the Catholic mission of their institutions to distinguish their educational programs and strengthen their commitment to service and justice. Catholic Social Teaching (CST), by virtue of its convergence with social work values and ethics, is a valuable resource for strengthening the social justice content of social work education. This paper describes a comprehensive model of ‘teaching to Catholic mission’ which includes faculty development, curriculum enrichment and student engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social justice is a foundational concept for both social work practice and Christian faith. This paper identifies various historical definitions and approaches to thinking about social justice and explores the challenges that arise for Christians in social work who wish to integrate their biblical faith with current understandings of social justice. Justice as a legal term connoting fairness, especially in the distribution of and access to resources, has been the dominant conceptual framework through history. This paper presents a conceptual framework that goes beyond justice as fairness to describe justice as an ideal that reflects the human longing for wholeness and harmony in social relationships. Christian faith provides a standard for measuring this state of justice in relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the concept of biblical justice in light of the book `The Practice of Justice: A Theory of Lawyers' Ethics,' by William H. Simon. Communal discernment of biblical justice; Countercultural influences on biblical justice; Impact of Christianity on the Christian lawyer.

Suggests a framework for the development of a New Testament Hermeneutic for justice. Main elements in Greco-Roman philosophers Plato and Aristotle on distributive justice and its contrast with the amoral tendencies of Greco-Roman religions; Various terms for justice in the Old Testament and intertestamental literature; Developments within the New Testament on justice; Definitions and types of early Christian justice.

Reflects on the pathos of praise in `Psalm 139.' Desperate plea of an individual unjustly accused of a crime; Affirmation of the worth of a child of God; Pronouncement of God's infinite and intimate knowledge of the self; Connection between knowledge of God and self-knowledge.

This fascinating book attempts to distinguish atheism, as the belief that God does not exist, from misotheism, as a range of postures (of hatred) towards God. It does so by sketching a range of misotheisms drawn from literary history: these are categorised as varying degrees of absolute and agnostic misotheism. Although this is not strictly a theological work, it nonetheless lends contemporary theologians a useful and subtle set of tools with which to understand what is often inaccurately labelled New Atheism in much post-Christian Western culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]