Christian Justice and Public Policy

Explores Christian insights into justice and suggests their relevance to issues of practice and theory.

Duncan B. Forrester (Author)

9780521554312, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 August 1997

292 pages
22.4 x 14.3 x 2 cm, 0.455 kg

'… a magesterial study which will surely become a standard work … Forrester has made me see … the real contribution that can be made by feminist critiques'. Church Times

Disagreements about justice are not simply academic matters. They create problems for practice and for policy-making. In a morally fragmented society in which 'nobody knows what justice is' issues such as wages policy, punishment and poverty become particularly difficult to handle. People striving to act justly are often uncertain how this might be done. Secular theories such as those of Rowls, Hayek, Habermas and modern feminist theorists, examined here, give some guidance for problems of justice that arise on the ground, but have serious limitations. This book argues that Christian theology, although it can no longer claim to provide a comprehensive theory of justice, can provide insights into justice - 'theological fragments' - which give illumination, challenge some aspects of the conventional wisdom, and contribute to the building of just communities in which people may flourish in mutuality and hope.

Introduction
Part I. Justice in Dispute: 1. Theology and public policy yesterday and today
2. 'Nobody knows what justice is': the problem of justice in a morally fragmented society
Part II. Policies and Practices: 3. Punishment and prisons
4. Poverty
Part III. Theories and Theologies: 5. Fairness is not enough
6. Justice and the market
7. Communication, gender and justice
Part IV. Theological Fragments: 8. Lively and truthful survivals? 9. Love, justice and justification
10. Justice and community
11. The hope of justice
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Christianity [HRC]