This is the kind of book you might have a hard time reading through in one take, but it will sit on your shelf and serve as a resource for years to come. The editors have assembled the foremost thinkers on a vast array of topics relating to justice in North America. Writing intelligently and concisely on their topics, these authors bring the latest research to the conversation of faith and justice. Covering topics as varied as environmental care and Native-American relations, TJP has something for just about everyone serious about taking Matthew 25 seriously.

OK, critiques: Too often, the answer presented in TJP is government intervention. It’s hard to deny that this is necessary at times, but as a manifesto to the church, shouldn’t we be dreaming about how we can stand as a prophetic witness against the domination systems of the world? Isn’t this one of the best ways to combat injustice? Barely any of the content in this book offers an alternative to political involvement. (primarily from a left-leaning perspective)

Overall, though, this book got me thinking. That’s a good thing. And with chapters that are only a few pages long, you can read and re-read an entire section in one sit-down. Seems like a good resource for a small group.

It’s not simply within the Christian church either. As Jim Wallis wrote in the Foreward, “The two greatest hungers in our country and our world today: the hunger for spiritual fulfillment and the hunger for social justice.” I see this in my city and in my community; we are all trying, albeit imperfectly, to render justice. I see small girls with lemonade stands, now festooned with signs that read “Help 4 Haiti” and their tupperware is filled, not with 25 cent coincs, but $5 and $10 bills. Everyone, it seems, is aware that there is inequity and, inherent to our God-image, is the desire to see God’s kingdom of justice reign.

There were many passages that I underlined, many voices that resonated. I particularly enjoyed meeting Sarah Dylan Breuer through her essay about God’s Justice: A Biblical View.

“God made the earth abundantly fruitful with more than enough resources to give every child a chance – that is, if humanity exercises stewardship of God’s gifts, as does the God who “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45). That abundance is God’s intent for creation and for all people. When human systems distribute God-given resources in a way that places a small fraction of humanity in luxury while a billion people live – or die – on less than a dollar a day, can that be anything other than sin?”

I respect and read many of the writers of these essays. But for some reason, I found this a hard book to read and to relate with in a real way.

I am left wondering if this was a book that needed to be written, an anthology that needed to be published?

I read it, I agree with much of it, but it didn’t inspire me or excite me. So maybe it’s overstimulation? Over saturation with the message? Another book published to capitalise on a trend? More proof of the western need to profit and commodify, creating products out of truth?

That sounds rather harsh. I don’t mean it quite that way.

But the truth remains – it’s a fine book about a current topic. The people reading it are the ones who already get it though. But ultimately, I doubt that it will affect any real change or bring anything to the already occuring conversation that wasn’t already being said.

(full review posted at http://www.emergingmummy.com/2010/01/in-which-i-review-justice-project.html)

Thanks,
S.

This book tackles subjects such as, God’s call for justice, what it means to have just elections, just ecology, just business, just suburbs, just cities, and so forth. The book really does hit on several key facets of life, and because of this would be relevant to any person who read it.

This book sure did broaden my scope of understating justice, even if I didn’t agree with every single contributor. It made me think about issues and concerns that I would otherwise have been ignorant of. Truth be told, I learned that justice is more complicated and complex than I could have ever imagined.

One critique that I would have of this book is that, while I loved the format of having several short essays by many different writers, the book failed to really dive deep into any one topic. I was often left wishing I just didn’t hear about the core, fundamental aspects of the given topic, but also some in-depth wrestling and fleshing out of them. Having said that, however, I do realize that this perhaps was the goal of the book: to give an overview of justice.

Nevertheless, I feel this book does add a harmonious voice to the emerging issues of justice and faith. We are on the cusp of a radical (re)calibrating of faith, of which I am excited to be a part of. Jenell Williams Paris, professor of sociology and anthropology at Messiah College in Pennsylvania describes this well in her essay, “A Tradition of Justice,” saying, “I was raised in the twentieth-century polarities of social justice versus evangelicalism and evangelicalism versus liberalism. There is much in my heritage I cherish, but I must choose how to make the most of my life and generation. The emergent conversation offers hope for assessing and appropriating reigning, recent, and ancient paradigms and practices in wise ways, creating fresh ways to nourish ourselves and our world. In deconstructing reigning paradigms and pursuing new contextualizations of faith and life, we will by necessity learn from and appropriate practices from Christian brothers and sisters of all times and places. There’s nothing new about Christian concern for justice, but it’s a new day in which we may carry forward the cause.”

Read it. Apply it. Seek justice.

http://www.ordinaryradical.blogspot.com

Two other points have made me closer to this side of a theological links to social-cultural involvement:
1. Desire to be in a church close to the needs of others (aware that we can fulfill all)
and
2. My children were attending in the church youth meetings and their topic was related to Darfour Case, the problem of evil and justice in the world.
The book “The Justice Project” appeared at Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group (one of the most solid publishing houses) and made available by The Ooze Viral Bloggers meet the qualities of a good point basis for documentation. Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla and Ashley Bunting Seeber are editors of The Justice Project “; the book itself is a collection of essays concerning the meaning of the biblical reflections to the problem of justice in the world and North American society. Many points of views, all like a choir in the direction of argumentation and asserting a new meaning which Christianity and it should acquire.
Brian McLaren and his partners want to convince the world that the Christian church cares about what happens around. From one point of view the book restrict their potential audience by massive presence among the authors of those who currently promote this theological view.
From another point of view “The Justice Project achieves its aim: attention on issues involving justice all over the globe and presents some possible answers / strategies work for open churches to be involved in supporting or fulfillment of social needs.
Authors fits on one side of the world now promoted sensitive. Concerns for man and nature, equal opportunities, spiritual reconciliation is background in which they built their ideas and then promote them on epistemological paradigms using a convenient hermeneutic achieve the proposed goal.
If you read the book to see a different view / opinion, with which you agree or not, you can browse and assimilate information more easily than if you see this book just a product of somebody that are on “the other side of the wall”.
The book was for me a good source of information.

I received this book via Baker Books from a recommendation of a friend. I would be the first that I had a misconception of what the word and meaning of Justice was. Especially Social Justice. At first glimpse I thought “oh, great another liberal book to try to swallow” But as I was reading it it gave a different glimpse.

This book is a collection of writings of a variety of different authors, backgrounds etc. on asking the Bigger questions such as what is Justice? How does it impact me etc. The book is broken into 5 sections.

I. The God of Justice.

II. The Book of Justice.

III. Justice in the USA

IV. A Just World.

V. A Just Church.

And then ends with the conclusions.

One of the chapters I keep coming back to is early in the book, Chapter 4. The Chapter is entitled: “A Tradition of Justice”- Snapshots of the the church pursuing justice across the major periods of church history. The author is Jenell Williams Paris. It is an interesting insight to where we have come and where we have to go in the interests of justice through the ages of early church, the middle ages, reformation, modern and postmodern ages. The one quote that hits home for me is found on pg 57. “There’s nothing new about Christian concern for justice, but it’s a new day in which we may carry forward the cause.” Thus we can be the hands and feet of Jesus because faith without works is dead.

Other reviews can be seen here

Might want to pick up your copy of this book.

I was challenged mostly by the wide range of injustice that is happening all around me. Reading these essays has caused me to begin to rethink the way that I live and what more I can do to not perpetuate the injustice that I unconsciously promote through my actions based on what and where I buy goods and who I may or may not vote for among other things.

I would hope that the message of the Justice Project would be heard by fellow Christians who are trying to figure out what the kingdom of God is all about. May be begin to ‘do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.’

In approach, ‘The Justice Project’ walks readers through six large sections; (1) The God of Justice, (2) The Book of Justice, (3) Justice in the U.S.A., (4) A Just World, (5) A Just Church, and (6) Conclusions. At root, the work is trying to light a fire under a slumbering church arguing both through theology and history. These large sections are broken down into shorter, smaller chapters – oftentimes simply too short – with individual authors adding their insight and theology.

The great strength of ‘Justice’ is it’s sheer breadth. In readable bursts, the authors take the reader on a global tour of justice and injustice through the dual lenses of the theology and contemporary culture. Here one finds all they need to (1.) form a glimpse of what justice is and how the church does and does not participate therein and (2.) have her or his heart quickened to the means and ways they themselves can become performers of justice in local and global context. This reading, should the young reader have a tour guide to navigate through peppered seminary language, would be wonderful for older high school and college-aged students. This work will challenge all those who are stepping newly into conversations concerning justice a great deal, while simultaneously deepening those who have more deeply engaged these issues.

The great weakness of ‘Justice’ – and this is sure to sound odd and opposing – is that the chapters are just too darn short. The reader gets the sense that individual authors hit her or his word count before they really got rolling, much like the preacher whose sermon never got out of the box because the clock-watchers were beginning to wiggle in their seats. I wanted to pull over to the side of the street and chat awhile – both about the portions I agreed with and the portions I suspected to be stretches of the text yet very imaginative. This, I argue, is the best writing can offer, to pace and lead and argue. ‘Justice’ does this well.

In the end, ‘Justice’ is well worth the time and dollars. I have deliberately been brief here because I am more desirous to prompt you to purchase and read ‘Justice’ than I am in having me recount its contents. Even in that, my ultimate aim is to lend a hand to a more just church, leading – as only it can – as to a more just world. You and me working for the justice of God, this, ultimately, is ‘The Justice Project’.

Edited by Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla, and Ashley Bunting Seeber, is a eye-opening follow-up to The Emergent Manifesto of Hope. It continues the theme of approaching a topic, Justice, from an array of voices. While there were notables such as Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, Peggy Campolo, and Lynne Hybels, the book mostly consisted of names I’d never heard of, activists working to challenge the status quo from their niches of experience.

In fact, it was that broad range of experiences that drew me in. A chapter by Peggy Campolo challenged me with a story of a gay-affirming church here in Arkansas, as well as challenging the typical notion of what “Biblical family values” really are. Her son Bart explained why campaign finance reform might just be the most important political “Justice” issue out there. One writer told of her experience in a barely post-Civil Rights black church, which looked up to MLK, Jr. they way we look up to Jesus, and this backed up nicely to stories from South Africa where white anti-Apartheid advocates feared the suspicious, “accidentally” fatal car incidents with cops. Then a description of Just Conservatism and Just Liberalism.

Particular sections where particularly biting. An early chapter asks if capitalism can be just. A definition of justice is in order, given that we have to decide whether Justice is distributive or redistributive; is Justice starting where we all are and going from there, or is it inherently redistributing and hence imbalanced against those who start off with more. The West has traditionally ran with the former while the Tanak inarguably aims at the latter. The question is whether or not a capitalistic system which, while creating a great deal of good, inevitably creates inequality is a redemptive system. That takes it pretty far, maybe beyond what I am comfortable with, but it does strike me as true that there will be no room for any inequality in God’s economy.

Then cut to a discussion on immigration reform in which a Latino writer recounts a discussion with a friend. One asks the other if he also carries his ID with him in his sock whenever he leaves the house so much as just to jog. It’s a world I cannot imagine, where naturalized citizens of the US live in fear of illegal deportation because of the stories they heard about the unlucky neighbor who forgot his drivers license when jogging. That neighbor is picked up, presumed illegal, detained and/or deported away from his family. The author barely has to imply the Scriptures that call for lavish welcoming of the squatter immigrants among us. It challenged me because I know we need serious immigration reform and laws to guide us. But I also know that Scripture holds up this ideal for sheltering the alien that many of us consider simply too idealistic. Maybe it is, but it is Just.

Just ecology. Just land. Just business. Justice in the slums. Justice in the suburbs. Just parenting. Just Trade. Just church-planting. Justice in religion. Justice in racial issues. Just elections. Just family values. Prophetic Justice.

This is one of those books that has perspectives that anyone but the most hardened ideologue will have their heart melted by. I’m really encouraged to see the awakening of much of the church to the Biblical primacy of Justice as integral to the Gospel. The church’s Justice awakening has gained such a tide that there is even now a resistance to it by Christians who, though well intentioned, misunderstand the Gospel to be some message which one can separate from social justice. The Justice Project is one of those books that reminds me why that perspective, which I used to buy, isn’t much good news at all. It’s got a perspective to unsettle, teach, encourage, anger, and give hope to anyone.

Edited by Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla, and Ashley Bunting Seeber, The Justice Project, is a compilation of essays on the topic of justice (big surprise, I know). The essays are collected according to their topics: God, Scriptures, the USA, the World, the Church, and Final Conclusions. Each of the essays are written at around six pages, making them each quick and easily digestible. Moreover, as we have come to expect from Emerging Church books, these essays have been constructed for the average reader. There is a no overblown vocabulary full of political and theological jargon. The complexity of these essays comes in their application, rather than in their reading. Lastly, this volume has intentionally reached across ethnic, geographical, and especially across liberal/ conservative lines. Although this book has articles by the Emergent mainstays Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and Samir Selmanovic, The Justice Project also includes articles from multiple members of Willow Creek Community Church (Including Lyne Hybels). The Justice Project laudably models the type of egalitarian community it hopes to create.

A specific Gem of an essay in this book is “My Name is Legion for We Are Many: Exorcism as Racial Justice” by Anthony Smith. The essay fascinating argues that “Mista Charley,” the structural racism that exists via apathy in America, needs to be exorcized as a “national demon.” Here is a brief quotation, playing on the Legion passage from Mark 5:
“We stand in an imperial graveyard. Our body politic has habits that render it nearly impossible to get at the deep terrain of racial privilege, dominance, and vast economic iniquities that persist along racial lines. We scream in privileged agony, cut ourselves off from the painful history of others, and are unable to be chained to a profound practice of repentance. What would it look like to be clothed and in our right minds again?… We wouldn’t attribute our success solely to our “work ethic” and “rugged individualism,” but would see the racial dynamics that play into the success of some and the struggle of others” (Smith, 106).

This book has both challenged my complicity in theologies and structures of injustice, while making me believe that change is possible. This is the kind of book that I will read over and over again.

Enter the Justice League. The book is a collection of essays from a wide spectrum of writers and thinkers in the contemporary Christian ‘justice conversation,’ including voices from evangelical, mainline, and emerging contexts:

* Rene Padilla
* Peggy Campolo
* Will and Lisa Samson
* Sylvia Keesmaat
* Bart Campolo
* Lynne Hybels
* Tony Jones
* Richard Twiss
* many others

Conservative religious belief systems teach us to choose righteousness over compassion, truth over helpfulness, and responsibility over sharing hope.

There is a change in landscape coming to America. It’s not necessarily the demise of the vocal right-wing, but the advent of a post-Christendom society. Canada is already living there. Note, I didn’t suggest that you need to be a liberal to believe in justice. In fact, among the 35 authors in the book, you’ll encounter at least one person that usher in a change to your paradigm of justice.

I would suggest all Christians need to rethink the justice issue, and then jump on board the surging justice movement. Why? Because at the heart of the gospel message is the call offer glimpses–foretastes–of the kingdom of God on earth. Righting wrongs–seeking justice, are therefore at the heart of the gospel.

The book is a compilation of essays from 35 authors. The variety of voices and perspectives is by far the major strength of the book. Men and women from many different countries and ministry groups contributed towards answering “What is Justice?” from a mostly Christian perspective.

Since there are too many essays to review individually, I thought I’d focus on just two:
Richard Twiss’ “Reading the Bible Unjustly: How Has the American Church Read the Bible Unjustly” and “Just Perspectives: How Can We Become Just Global Citizens?” by Ashley Bunting Seeber.

Richard Twiss, a Native American, works in Washington but I particularly liked his essay for the insight it provided into some of the issues of my Native Alaskan friends and family.

Twiss’ tells of the history of the colonizing of America which led to European people “viewing Native people through the lens of Scripture, [they] people saw idolaters who were spiritually deceived, lost in rebellion, and hell-bound. While it is true that all peoples and cultures are stained by sin and the rejection of the Creator’s path of beauty, and desperately need reconciliation to God, it is also true that European enlightenment thinking colored their understanding of Scripture that manifest destiny and biblical mission became indistinguishable; one appeared the same as the other.”

His essay is a strong reminder to work with culture groups to find ways they can express their Christianity through their own cultural norms, instead of insisting it be replaced with “church culture”.

I think this book would have benefited from some more practical examples of how to live justly. A better balance of pragmatism and theory would have made the book more complete for me. It does a tremendous job of explaining what justice is and why we should care, but doesn’t often enough tell us how.

One exception was “Just Perspectives”. Seeber tells about some of the interactions she’s had with various cultures outside of the US. She goes on to provide a list of 10 practical things we each can do to make sure we, as US citizens, make for better global neighbors. Some of these ideas can be done in your own hometown and include: eating new ethnic foods, helping refugee families settle in, read news from other perspectives, pray the news, and help your children learn geography.

Overall, I think the book provides a broad view of people’s thinking on Justice, with well written, thoughtful essays. It’s a good reference book for a study on the subject of the biblical aspects of justice, but is not a how-to handbook.

The Justice Project is nothing like that. I figured I would like it, but I didn’t realize how moved I would be by so many chapters. I know this sounds overly dramatic, but I am not sure I could figure out which chapter I liked the least.

Similar to the Coldplay effect on music where so many bands decided to incorporate more piano and less guitar, to some, justice is the new novelty of the Christian world. What the JP does is open the eyes of the reader that justice has always been the mandate of God and part of the scope of the Scriptures but unfortunately, some of us have missed it.

Justice has gotten a bad reputation amongst evangelicals. Scarred by the missteps of the social justice movement (where the pendulum swung too far), the mission of God became exclusively about winning souls to heaven (the pendulum swung back too far). In some circles, the term “justice” has gotten a bad rap as it was often modified by the word “social”. And we all know that if you are interested in social justice that you can’t be interested in the resurrection of Jesus too. Clearly one is completely alien to the other. This book would help alter that perspective.

If I could read it over again, I would have used this book as a devotional. I don’t normally use daily “devotionals” and not real crazy about the connotations associated with the term but using this as a daily reading would be beneficial. There’s a lot to consider. Like the Hebrew and Greek word for “justice” occur over 1000 times in the Bible. However, how many sermons have you heard on the subject of justice? I bet you have heard more sermons about sex than you have about justice. Further, I bet that you have rolled your eyes more times at Bono talking about justice than the number of times your pastor has centered a sermon around this subject.

One of the best features of the book is that it includes voices from various ethnicities and from different corners of life. While there were some very familiar names like Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, Lynne Hybels, Samir Selmanovic, Peggy Campolo, the Samsons, about half the names were new to me and I found myself googling them after finishing their chapters. I especially liked the author bio on the first page of the essay as opposed to the last page. As you may have heard by now, everything is contextual and it was great to get a hint of where the writer was coming from. I also liked the way the five parts the book was broken into: The God of Justice, The Book of Justice, Justice in the USA, A Just World, and A Just Church.

As most of the faithful readers of this blog know by now, I direct a lot of words to the conservative evangelicals because I consider myself to be one. To put it bluntly, if you can define justice as part of God’s righteousness, and if we as a Church can see and treat it the way we regard evangelism and discipleship in the Kingdom, then I believe, we would be a more complete Church. Pick up the Justice Project, it’s excellent.

That made reading “The Justice Project” a big challenge. Brian McLaren is the primary editor for this collection of “essays” for Baker Books. As I read the book, I forced myself to do an essay every other day – allowing me to live with each article and essayist thoughts. Then I sat back to explore some of the common threads that McLaren (as editor) sought to communicate through this project.
McLaren divides the book into several sections.

1) The God of Justice – which deals with issues of theology, church history, the challenge of postmodernism and the emerging church.

2) The Book of Justice – which address how the Bible deals with issues of justice through the Torah and Hebrew prophetic writings, as well as in the Gospels and Epistles

3) Justice in the U.S.A. (which looks at justice issues which have been prevalent in theological and philosophical roundtables in the USA)

4) A Just World (a global look at the topic)

5) A Just Church (exploring ways that the church has/can pursue justice)

As a whole, the book does a good job of starting a conversation from an “emergent church” perspective about a wide range of justice issues that confront the human family. The challenge will be for others to take up the charge, for this book format only allows the surface to be scratch as to the topics and Christian response.

The book–as most collections of essays are doomed to be–is annoyingly hit or miss. Quality and depth of writing varied wildly. The editing, it seemed, also did not curb repetition. Too often I found myself skimming over sentences or entire paragraphs that a previous essay had just said in a only slightly different way.

However, the essays that hit the mark did so excellently. If you’re borrowing this book from someone, definitely check out Jeremy Del Rio’s “Prophets of Justice”; Bart Campolo’s “Just Elections”; and Ashley Bunting Seeber’s “Just Perspectives. A quote from each will give you a flavor of what is being said.

Del Rio: “Too many Bible readers have been trained…to approach the biblical text through the priestly lens, not the prophetic one. That is, they look at the priestly theme of personal justification and ignore the prophetic theme of social justice.”

Campolo: “I hereby assert that…there is only one voting issue of ultimate significance: campaign finance reform.”

Seeber quoting a friend: “…what would America justice look like? Would it be restorative justice, or retributive justice? It seems Americans are focused on retributive justice more than anything else, on punishing people for their wrongdoing.” She herself comments, “Do we even know how to seek distributive justice, to love other countries as we love ourselves?

The Justice Project would serve as great discussion-kindling; it doesn’t stand alone very well.

Three stars (out of five).

I would like to address briefly. Chp. 22 Just Religion: Why should We De-colonize God’s name?
The author tries to make the claim for a salvation in other religions outside of Christ (without denying Christ). His main argument seems to be that God is moving in other peoples lives and other religions that are not Christ centered. I would agree with the author that God is moving in peoples lives who do not know Jesus.
On a recent mission trip to Haiti, I seen God moving. God was there in the smile of a young lady who was selling coconuts on the side of the road. This lady has no water, no electric, nothing of any material goods and there she is smiling—That was God.
I seen God in the fact, that for the most part, people there are not starving, even though it seems like they should be. That was what we call Gods prevenient, sovereign grace. (The sun shines on the just and the unjust).
But seeing all that only means that they need to recognize the “unknown God” and that God is Jesus. Which puts the responsibility on us, to go and share the good news found in Jesus.
Another part of the chapter the author ask the question, “How is the good news good to those who have never heard?” Then as an example he asks if there was a viral disease on Manhattan Island and the authorities issued only one bus on which to evacuate, how would that constitute good news for its citizens?
I would answer by saying the good news is that the followers of Jesus give up their seat on the bus so that others may escape. And they did that because of the life transforming power of Jesus in their life.

http://www.intercessioncity.blogspot.com

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3D2BBUTZJ9BGN/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

http://culturedrivenlife.blogspot.com/2009/11/justice-project.html