Abstract
The mission of Jesus was in line of prophets who focused on justice as compliance with rules prescribed by the Creator. This teaching was removal of injustices that had led to exclusion, social segregation, widespread poverty and oppression by a select minority. His message is to love the Lord God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. After Jesus, the major contributions to Christian thought came from Paul, built on the foundation of the Love, Mercy and Justice of the One and Only Creator reflected in the totality of His human creation. Then came Augustine who interpreted Jesus and Paul through reliance on Greek thought and the Hebrew Bible. Much later, Thomas Aquinas considered justice as a virtue. Although there are differences, the essential element is love, for the Almighty and love for the self, transferred to love of others.
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- 1.
See, for example, Matthew 8:1–3; Luke 17:11–19; Mark 1:40–44.
- 2.
See also Matthew 8:1–3; Luke 17:11–19; Mark 1:40–44.
- 3.
Irwin 1989, p. 204, suggests that “we have good reason to place the Gospels between 65–100.”
- 4.
These letters include those written to the Romans, Corinthians (includes two letters: 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians), Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, two letters to Thessalonians (1 and 2 Thessalonians), two letters to Timothy (1 and 2), Titus and Philemon.
- 5.
For more details of Paul’s life, letters and his teachings, see Marrow 1986; Cousar 1996; Polhill 1999; Schmidth 2010; and Write 2018. See also Horsely 1997, 2000; Badiou 2003; and Elliot 2006.
- 6.
In contemporary Christian thought, there is debate about Paul and what the content of his letters. He has been accused, inter alia, of defense of slavery and status quo under tyranny, anti-Semitism and misogyny (see, e.g., Fiorenza 1994). Recently, however, there has been some reinterpretation of Paul that challenge these issues (see e.g., Badiou 2003 and Elliot 2006).
- 7.
The Greek term for justice, “dikaiosyne,” has for a long time been translated as “righteousness.” A number of contemporary scholars have argued for use of the word “justice” rather than “righteousness.” See, for example, Elliot 2006 and Gorman 2008.
- 8.
On the concept of “uncircumcised heart,” see the Qur’an Verse 88: Chapter 2, and Verse 155: Chapter 4.
- 9.
In the words of the Qur’an “if you have done good (to others), you have done it to your own selves and if you have harmed (others), you have harmed your own selves” (the Qur’an Verse 7: Chapter 17).
- 10.
The full text of Matthew 23:8–9: “But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you all are brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.” For a commentary on these verses, see Dodd 1952, p. 555.
- 11.
This process began mostly from the second century onward and gained strength throughout history thereafter.
- 12.
On the thoughts of some of these theologians in relation to natural law interpretations of Paul, see Levering 2014, pp. 66–110. See also comments by Emon, pp. 111–125, and Novak, pp. 126–143 in the same volume.
- 13.
In this context, see the provocative books by Ehrman including his books published in 2007 and 2014. There have been a number of critical responses to Ehrman; see, for example, Andrews 2017.
- 14.
See Weinreb 1987, p. 49.
- 15.
Paul himself held similar views. While considering slave trading an abomination (1 Timothy 1:10) and encouraging Corinthians slaves to gain their freedom when possible, he did not argue for the emancipation of slaves. He did however urge amicable relations between master and slave (Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 4:1). He devotes the entirety of one of his epistles (Philemon) to urging masters to treat their slaves as brothers.
- 16.
In Mark 12:33, Jesus (as) is reported as saying: “To love Him with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings.”
- 17.
In Romans 13:8 Paul says: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”
- 18.
For a brief introduction to Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushed and Ibn Maimon within the context of Medieval philosophy, see Wippel and Wolter 1969, pp. 227–262; Leaman 1999, Nasr and Leaman 1996. On Ibn Maimon, see Green 2013.
- 19.
Among Christian scholars generally and theologians among them particularly, there is reluctance to acknowledge Aquinas’ debt to Islamic and Jewish scholars. For example, Pinckaers (2002, pp. 17–29) lists the sources of Aquinas’ thoughts on philosophy, but in his 12-page paper, only 6 lines refer to Muslim and Jewish sources. In this context, see Mirakhor 2014; Burrell 1999; Burnett 2005. On Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi see Adamson and Taylor 2005; and Butterworth 2001; on Al-Razi, see Goodman; on Ibn Sina, al-Ghazali, and Ibn Rushed see Adamson and Taylor 2005. Also see Campanini 2008; Galston 1990. On Jewish philosophers of the Muslim world, see Nasr and Leaman 2001, pp. 673–780; Green 2013 on Ibn Maimon; and Minkin 1957. See also Brague 1998, on Leo Strauss’ position on Muslim scholars’ understanding of Greek philosophy. On the influence of Muslim and Jewish scholars on Aquinas, see Burrell 1999.
- 20.
See Cochran’s translation of Brague 2009, pp. 169–181.
- 21.
For a good coverage of dimensions of Aquinas’ ethics in Summa Theologica, see Pope 2002. See also Aquinas 2014.
- 22.
For discussion of justice as virtue in Summa Theologica, see Porter 2002, pp. 272–286. See also Rhonheimer 2002, pp. 287–303, for a discussion of what Aquinas considered as “sins” against justice, including “usury.” See also Davis 2002.
- 23.
For a brief discussion of Aquinas’ metaphysics of his theology in the context of coverage of Aquinas in this section, see Weinberg 1964, pp. 182–212.
- 24.
For a discussion of Aquinas’ conception and use of natural law in his theology and philosophy, see Weinreb 1987, pp. 53–63.
Bibliography
Capehart, Loretta, and Dragan Milovanovic. 2007. Social Justice: Theories, Issues and Movements. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Green, Kenneth Hart, ed. 2013. Leo Strauss on Maimonides: The Complete Writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
MacIntyre, Alasdair. 1988. Whose Justice? Which Rationality. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Weinreb, Lloyd L. 1987. Natural Law and Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
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Mirakhor, A., Askari, H. (2019). Conception of Justice: Post-Axial Age Christianity. In: Conceptions of Justice from Earliest History to Islam. Political Economy of Islam. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54303-5_7
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