Resurrecting Justice - by Douglas Harink (Paperback)

About the Book

Theologian Douglas Harink invites readers to rediscover Romans as a treatise on justice, tracing Paul's thinking on this theme through a sequential reading of the book and finding in each passage facets of the gospel's primary claim--that God accomplishes justice in the death and resurrection of Jesus Messiah.

Book Synopsis

The theme of justice pervades the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. And all Christians agree that justice is important. We often disagree, however, about what justice means, both in Scripture and for us today. Many turn to Old Testament laws, the prophets, and the life of Jesus to find biblical guidance on justice, but few think of searching the letters of Paul. Readers frequently miss a key source, a writing in which justice is actually the central concern: the book of Romans.

In Resurrecting Justice, theologian Douglas Harink invites readers to rediscover Romans as a treatise on justice. He traces Paul's thinking on this theme through a sequential reading of the book, finding in each passage facets of the gospel's primary claim--that God accomplishes justice in the death and resurrection of Jesus Messiah. By rendering forms of the Greek word dikaiosynē as "just" or "justice," Harink emphasizes the inseparability of personal, social, and political uprightness that was clear to Paul but is obscured in modern translations' use of the words "righteous" and "righteousness" instead.

Throughout this book, Harink includes personal reflection questions and contemporary implications, helping readers connect Paul's teaching to issues in their world such as church life, politics, power, criminal justice, and violence. Romans demands nothing less than a fundamental rethinking of all things in the light of the gospel. And in Romans the life, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus makes all the difference in how we think about justice. Resurrecting Justice makes clear that the good news of a justice that can come only from God is crucial not only for individual lives but for all peoples and nations of the world.

Review Quotes

"Douglas Harink takes readers to school with Paul's letter to the Romans in order to learn (and learn again) that justification has everything to do with justice because the God of the gospel has designs--at once gracious and righteous--upon our persons, our societies, and our nations. The fruit of long wrestling with Paul, Resurrecting Justice provides an accessible, instructive, and edifying study of the very heart of the gospel: namely, God's powerful setting things to rights in Christ Jesus."

--Philip G. Ziegler, University of Aberdeen

"Romans is a rich document encompassing multiple important themes, but the one Douglas Harink traces--justice--is often overlooked. This provocative book will therefore surprise many readers, but they will find it to be an engaging treatment of a neglected yet significant theme, punctuated with stimulating reflection questions. (The section on Romans 13:1-7 is alone worth the price of the book.) Resurrecting Justice is especially important for Christians today, who need to understand, proclaim, and participate in the peculiar messianic justice of God."

--Michael J. Gorman, Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore

About the Author

Douglas Harink (PhD, University of St. Michael's College) is professor of theology at The King's University in Edmonton, Alberta. He is the author of Paul Among the Postliberals and 1 and 2 Peter in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. He is also the editor of Paul, Philosophy, and the Theopolitical Vision: Critical Engagements with Agamben, Badiou, Zizek, and Others.