Passion for Justice

by Beckley, Harlan

• ISBN13: 9780664221645
• ISBN10: 0664221645
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-11-01
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Pr

Summary

This valuable book explores how theology, ethics, and public policy are related in the thoughts and lives of Walter Rauschenbusch, John A. Ryan, and Reinhold Niebuhr--three individuals who have each had a great impact on Christian thinking about justice.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	13	(2)
Introduction	15	(1)
Why This Study?	15	(3)
Clues for Understanding	18	(7)
Theology, Ethics, and Policies	18	(1)
Experience, Acting, and Thinking About Justice	19	(1)
Theories and Conceptions of Justice?	20	(2)
Gustafson's Base Points	22	(1)
An Asymmetrical Organization	23	(2)
Discovering Legacies	25	(2)
Discovering The Centrality of the Kingdom of God	27	(30)
The Discovery	27	(7)
The Kingdom of God	34	(22)
Sources	34	(1)
The Person and Teachings of Jesus	34	(2)
The Social Sciences	36	(6)
Salient Features of the Kingdom	42	(1)
Social Dimension	42	(5)
Evolutionary Character	47	(4)
Social Principles	51	(5)
Concluding Implications for Justice	56	(1)
Justice As the Foundation for the Kingdom of God	57	(53)
The Historical Circumstances of Justice	59	(13)
Description of the Social Order	60	(1)
Family	60	(1)
Church	61	(1)
Education	62	(1)
Politics	63	(2)
Economy	65	(4)
Implications for Justice	69	(1)
Justice Has Descriptive Justifications	69	(1)
The Kingdom in History Bears on Justice	70	(2)
Individual and Collective Agency	72	(9)
Natural Interests	72	(2)
Persons in Relation to Collective Agents	74	(4)
Sin and Redemption	78	(3)
God	81	(6)
Redeemer	81	(3)
Creator and Orderer	84	(1)
Judge	85	(2)
``Channel Buoys'' for Justice	87	(11)
The Ideal That Is Now Possible: Opportunity for Individual Development	89	(1)
Equality as Earned Income and Wealth	89	(2)
Freedom Through Economic Democracy	91	(1)
Fraternity Through Socialist Cooperation	92	(2)
The Strategy Required: Individual Sacrifice and Redistribution of Power	94	(1)
Personal Regeneration and Voluntary Self-Sacrifice	95	(1)
Justly Inflicted Individual Sacrifice	96	(1)
Redistribution of Power	97	(1)
Policies of Government and Church	98	(9)
Government	98	(6)
Church	104	(3)
Some Conclusions	107	(3)
Justice Based on Human Dignity	110	(79)
The Inheritance	110	(7)
Human Nature and Agency	117	(27)
The Dignity of Human Nature	117	(1)
Dignity in Relation to a ``Teleology of the Human Person''	118	(4)
Dignity in Relation to a ``Teleology of Obligation''	122	(5)
Dignity: A Comparison with Rauschenbusch	127	(3)
Rights Based on Human Dignity	130	(2)
Absolute	132	(4)
Equal	136	(2)
Specifiable	138	(2)
Rational Moral Agents	140	(4)
The Economic Circumstances of Justice	144	(16)
The Relative Autonomy of Economics	145	(1)
From Other Social Sciences	145	(2)
From Ethics	147	(1)
Conclusions	148	(1)
Autonomous Economics Bears on Justice	149	(2)
Expanding the Relevant Circumstances to Account for the Purpose of Justice	151	(1)
Three Species of Justice	152	(1)
A Living Wage	153	(2)
Rents and Interest	155	(3)
Private Property	158	(1)
Some Comparisons and Conclusions	159	(1)
God's Natural Order	160	(5)
God's Order and the Means to Natural Self-perfection	161	(3)
God's Order Can Be Known by Reason	164	(1)
Canons of Distributive Justice	165	(8)
Needs	168	(2)
Deserts	170	(1)
Human Welfare	171	(2)
Ryan's Early Program for Economic Justice	173	(14)
A Family Living Wage	173	(3)
Complete Distributive Justice	176	(3)
Private Ownership of Productive Property	179	(2)
Strategy: Justice Through Rational Action by the State	181	(1)
The Labor Movement	182	(1)
The Socialist Movement	183	(1)
The Church	184	(1)
The State	185	(1)
Some Comparisons	186	(1)
Conclusion	187	(2)
Justice: A Strategy for Approximating Love	189	(41)
The Ideal and the Actual---I: The Ideal Is Real	192	(8)
The Ideal and the Actual---II: Christian Realism	200	(10)
The Ideal	202	(2)
The Actual	204	(1)
The Tension	205	(1)
Secular Liberalism: Rational Principles Applied	206	(1)
Religious Liberalism: Love Applied	207	(1)
Protestant Sectarianism: Love Withdrawn	207	(1)
Christian Orthodoxy: Love Above	208	(1)
Christian Realism: Love in Tension	208	(2)
The Conception of Justice	210	(8)
A General Principle of Justice	210	(2)
Working Standards of Justice	212	(1)
Equal Justice as the Goal	212	(2)
Useful Attitudes Engendered by Love	214	(1)
Balance of Power	215	(1)
Conclusions	216	(2)
Justice Applied	218	(9)
Ownership of Productive Property	218	(2)
Democracy	220	(2)
Marxism and the Proletarian Movement	222	(5)
New Winds of Change	227	(3)
Policies for New Times	230	(26)
Redistribution of Income and Wealth	233	(6)
Guilds for an Industrial Economy	239	(7)
Labor Sharing in Management, Profits, and Ownership	246	(5)
Some Comparisons and Contrasts	251	(5)
Retrieving Christian Theology to Back a Realist Strategy	256	(56)
The Function of Myth	257	(7)
Retrieving Christian Doctrine	257	(5)
The Credibility of Christian Doctrine	262	(2)
Human Nature and Agency	264	(18)
Humans as Spirit and Nature	265	(1)
Humans in the Image of God	265	(2)
Humans as Creatures	267	(4)
Humans as Willing but Inevitable Sinners	271	(2)
Implications for Justice	273	(1)
Humans as Agents: An Admixture of Ideal and Actual Possibilities	274	(1)
Free for Self-giving	275	(1)
Free for Self-aggrandizement	276	(1)
The Inevitable Admixture of Self-giving and Self-aggrandizement	277	(2)
Grace: The Tension Relaxed	279	(2)
Implications for Justice	281	(1)
Interpretation of Circumstances	282	(16)
Limitations	285	(6)
Possibilities	291	(3)
Direction and Fulfillment	294	(4)
God	298	(9)
God Is Love	298	(1)
God as Transcendent: Love and Justice Unified	299	(3)
God Acting in History: Love and Justice in Paradox	302	(4)
Implications for Justice	306	(1)
The Ideal and Actual Revisited	307	(5)
The Ideal	307	(1)
The Actual	308	(1)
The Tension	309	(3)
A Modified Strategy for Approximating Love	312	(32)
The Working Standards of Justice	313	(11)
Regulative Principles of Justice	313	(3)
Balance of Power	316	(4)
The Relevance of Love	320	(4)
Justice Applied	324	(17)
Democracy	325	(7)
Ownership of Productive Property	332	(5)
Other Issues	337	(4)
We Have a Legacy	341	(3)
Retrieving Legacies	344	(41)
Retrieving the Historical Rauschenbusch	344	(2)
A Common Legacy: Beliefs and Justice	346	(4)
Just Discriminations and the Ultimate Ideal	350	(5)
Descriptive Analysis and Norms of Justice	355	(6)
Interpreting the Historical Circumstances of Justice	355	(3)
Interpreting the Economic Circumstances of Justice	358	(3)
Equal Opportunity for Self-Development	361	(6)
Justice and Policy Issues	367	(6)
Organization of the Productive Process?	368	(2)
A Coherent Program for Reform?	370	(1)
Strategies for Achieving Justice?	371	(2)
The Church and Justice	373	(9)
Legacies and Tasks	382	(3)
Selected Bibliography	385	(4)
Index of Names	389