Restorative justice as a public theology imperative
The divine instructions in Jeremiah 29 to seek the welfare of the city followed a directive to rebuild, plant, and multiply familial bonds. It was a restorative charge to pursue living justly in the midst of demonic realities under exilic conditions. Jeremiah voiced the public charge particularly to...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
[2017]
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| In: |
Review and expositor
Year: 2017, Volume: 114, Issue: 3, Pages: 366-379 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics CH Christianity and Society FD Contextual theology HB Old Testament KBQ North America NCC Social ethics |
| Further subjects: | B
liberative justice
public theology
restorative justice
theoethics
womanist
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | The divine instructions in Jeremiah 29 to seek the welfare of the city followed a directive to rebuild, plant, and multiply familial bonds. It was a restorative charge to pursue living justly in the midst of demonic realities under exilic conditions. Jeremiah voiced the public charge particularly to civic and faith leaders to seek the welfare of the city, centered first on the divine will for prayerful obedience and on genuine concern for those marginalized and suffering under the yoke of displacement and continued oppression. In this article, I discuss that the circumstances of Judah’s recurrent apostasy reveal some troubling characteristics that are not unlike the divisive factors within the public ideological landscape of America’s present civic tensions. I comparatively examine the prophetic restorative charge issued with the professed authority of a divine God of created order and deliverance. I use a womanist theoethical lens to investigate restorative justice as a public-square ethos warranting further deliberation. I posit that similar restorative justice principles are expandable currently from an initial criminal justice context. I align the principles useful in a theoethical communitarian approach of public praxis. Finally, I propose a contextual placement of the Jeremiah charge in today’s prophetic resistance by framing restorative justice as a public theology imperative for us to become spiritual change agents. The divine directive to seek the welfare of the city still resonates with relevance to present intersectional crises that I refer to as Black Lives Matter times in America. |
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| ISSN: | 2052-9449 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Review and expositor
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0034637317721704 |