Justice does not come from answering ‘What is justice?’…. justice comes from those who are willing to ask ‘Whose justice is it?’ That is, when justice is defined by some party, the power of that party’s definition determines the meaning of justice. Which is to say that justice is shaped by one’s moral standards…
There is a noble Christian tradition which takes evil so seriously that it warns against the temptation to “solve” it in any obvious way. If you offer an analysis of evil which leaves us saying, “Well, that’s all right then; we now see how it happens and what to do about it,” you have belittled the problem. I once heard a leading philosophical theologian trying to do that with Auschwitz, and it was squirmingly embarrassing. We cannot and must not soften the blow; we cannot and must not pretend that evil isn’t that bad after all.
It was people who believed robustly in the resurrection, not people who compromised and went in for a mere spiritualized survival, who stood up against Caesar in the first centuries of the Christian era. A piety that sees death as the moment of “going home at last,” the time when we are “called to God’s eternal peace,” has no quarrel with power-mongers who want to carve up the world to suit their own ends. Resurrection, by contrast, has always gone with a strong view of God’s justice and of God as the good creator. Those twin beliefs give rise not to a meek acquiescence to injustice in the world but to a robust determination to oppose it.
My name is Murph and this blog is an assortment of thoughts (If you haven't figured that out). What kind of thoughts? That's a good question. I am a Christian, a book worm, a techie, and a contemplative. So we can probably expect related topics. My hope is that this blog would inspire, encourage, and challenge those who read it.
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