Should a Christian Lawyer Sign Up for Simon's Practice of Justice?

Authors

Thomas L. Shaffer, Notre Dame Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1999

Publication Information

51 Stan. L. Rev. 903 (1998-1999)

Abstract

In The Practice of Justice, Professor William H. Simon describes justice in a way that differs from the way the Bible describes justice. The big difference is not so much what justice requires (although there is some difference there) as (i) how people decide what justice requires, and (ii) who the "people" are who decide what justice requires. Some of us Christians claim to understand "justice" as the Bible understands it. It may make a difference that, for biblical people, "justice" is righteousness, and righteousness, the Torah teaches, and Rabbi Hillel teaches, and Rabbi Jesus teaches, is practice following upon love of God and neighbor.

It may also make a difference that biblical justice is not derived from conventional morality, while cultural sources of justice come from what Christians call "the world." Unlike Professor Simon's justice, biblical justice is not derived from "the rule of law"; legal order is what St. Paul refers to as "authorities and potentates." Biblical justice is not derived from fealty to the modem nation-state, which is analogous to what the New Testament calls the Beast.

Those understandings of what justice is are not, however, the most evident differences. The most evident differences between Professor Simon's justice and biblical justice do not turn on principles, but on processes. Among Christians, biblical justice includes all of the moral implications of undertaking to follow Jesus, who acted in company. People in company tend to bump into other companies of people and tend to impinge on one another; and so biblical justice can often, no doubt, resemble what Professor Simon means when he talks about justice. The difference I would underline is this: Biblical justice is the product of moral discernment (ethics if you like) among those who gather for the purpose of deciding what biblical justice is. Where it differs most from Simon's justice is that biblical processes are communal; they invoke and seek a "communal quality of belief." That is, they invoke both belief and community. One New Testament example occurs when St. James, spokesperson for the first set of Christian leaders, tells gentile Christians under what circumstances they are bound to follow Jewish Law. Before he announces the relevant rules, he tells them how the leaders' decision was made: "It is the decision of the Holy Spirit, and our decision . . . ." The authority he claims depends on the facts that (i) God had been a party to the communal deliberations of what the church later called the Council of Jerusalem, and (ii) the decision had been made communally.

Recommended Citation

Thomas L. Shaffer, Should a Christian Lawyer Sign Up for Simon's Practice of Justice?, 51 Stan. L. Rev. 903 (1998-1999).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/586