Walter Brueggemann -What is Justice?
I was just watching this short vimeo video from The Justice Conference where Walter Brueggemann is discussing what biblical Justice is and the challenge for those who follow Yahweh to work towards the alleviation of injustices.
I am encouraged how Brueggemann is bringing much needed attention to the often separated notions of our “declared love for God” and our “social activities”. I also appreciated how he highlights the truth that there can be systemic conditions within communities that lend to the oppression of people.
Watch this video below and lets discuss what he is saying here. Is it helpful to you?
One of the misfortunes in the long history of the church is that we have mistakenly separated love of God from love of neighbor and always they are held together in prophetic poetry.
Covenant members who practice justice and righteousness are to be active advocates for the vulnerable and the marginal and the people without resources and that then becomes the way to act out and exhibit one’s love of God.
So love of God gets translated into love of vulnerable neighbors. And the doing of Justice is the prophetic invitation to do what needs to be done to enable the poor and the disadvantaged and the neglected to participate in the resources and the wealth of the community.
And injustice is the outcome of having skewed neighborly processes so some are put at an unbearable disadvantage.
And the gospel invitation is that people intervene in that to correct those mistaken arrangements.” -Walter Brueggemann
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I have read his book about the both the vocation and influence of the Prophets within the scriptures titled, “The Prophetic Imagination”
I do recommend it if you are interested to study about the prophetic literature within the Bible. It is only 150 pages but full of prophetic challenge for the faith.
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