A bound set of New Testament manuscripts.  Photo credit:  Atlantios, Creative Commons Zero. 

Introduction

In Scripture, God seeks to restore all people, all relationships, and all creation to the path of growth He intended from the beginning. Hence, divine justice is restorative and forward-looking, insisting on our partnership in repair and growth, not retributive and backward-looking, as if God insists on our suffering. God’s restorative justice is shown in Jesus, who restores human nature and shares his Spirit with us to restore our human nature and God’s relational vision. Scripture leads us to a common good, public good paradigm; see this brief debate on X/Twitter.

Four Principles of Justice and the Secular Inability to Organize Them

The following messages and presentations are good examples of how to engage non-Christians and Christians alike. Mako has discussed Christian restorative justice at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Harvard law school, church groups, neighborhood and community meetings. For practical action steps, see our Study Guide. For a good introduction, check out this video, below:

The Heart of Christian Restorative Justice in the Heart of God (link opens YouTube video) Mako spoke at Eastern Nazarene College’s chapel service on February 6, 2013. This 35 minute video highlights the four types of justice and the secular inability to organize them. Republicans elevate libertarian justice (in economic issues) and then meritocratic-retributive justice, whereas Democrats elevate libertarian justice (in social issues) and then distributive justice (e.g. human welfare) and then meritocratic-justice. But in Scripture, God puts restorative justice first, then distributive second, then meritocratic-retributive third, and then libertarian fourth with modifications. When secular people use “justice” language, we show we were made by a God of restorative justice, are alienated from Him, and need Jesus who restores human nature, first in himself, now in us.

Supplements:

Hank Green, What is Justice? Crash Course Philosophy #40. Crash Course, Dec 19, 2016. Green gives a very helpful introduction to different principles of justice, without ordering them, and acknowledging that secular thinking does not know how to organize them.

David Brooks, Trump, Taxes and Citizenship. New York Times, Oct 4, 2016. David Brooks, conservative commentator, is an example of someone who longs for a relational and communitarian ethic of citizenship, as opposed to a merely transactional ethic of individual taxpayers, although he searches within the Enlightenment traditions, but arguably in vain.

Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion. Pantheon Books | Amazon page, Mar 2012. Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist, illustrates how principles of morality and justice exist in us, but in some kind of disorder. Haidt argues that there are six major moral feelings-principles that we use in politics. However, philosopher John Gray warns that Haidt’s appeal to science and human nature is “scientism” and mistakenly assumes American political discourse is close to that of other countries; see John Gray, The Knowns and the Unknowns. The New Republic, Apr 20, 2012.

Christian Restorative Justice

God’s Justice: Restorative, Not Retributive (link opens YouTube video) A 40 minute presentation with 20 minutes of Q&A following. Mako Nagasawa spoke at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in March 2022, explaining various activities of God in Scripture as His restorative justice: 1) "An Eye for an Eye" as Restorative Justice; 2) God's Treatment of Israel as Restorative Justice; 3) God's Presence in Israel as Restorative; and 4) God's Atonement in Christ as Restorative. These slides accompany the presentation. This video follows a chapel service which was not recorded, which was on the four principles of justice (see above). See also a 60 minute English and Spanish translation of the most important parts of this content (Zoom video recording).

Divine Fire

God’s Goodness and Divine Fire in Scripture

This page is a collection of messages, papers, early church citations, and contemporary exegesis. Even an eternal hell is consistent with divine restorative justice, in the following way: Hell is a condition of addiction and self-deception, so that when God calls upon unrepentant offenders to participate in their restoration, they experience it as torment and insult. This comes from the larger biblical theme that God made us to be human beings and human becomings, whose nature is co-determined by God and us in partnership, and set by what and who we choose to love.

Like fallen Adam in the garden, we desire to deflect blame, and therefore we scapegoat others. On the political level, this builds group cohesion and creates a social outsider, who is blamed for the group’s woes, who the group must exile or kill or marginalize in order to maintain a hopeful lie. This series explores what political scapegoating has looked like in the U.S. Why is it so easy for people — including Christians, especially Christians — to scapegoat people who are considered other for their own feelings of anxiety, anger, and disgust? See more about the course. See more about the overall topic.

 
 

Sources of Christian Restorative Justice:

This section explores theological reflection on God’s justice as restorative: in Scripture; the Early Church up to John of Damascus; the Orthodox tradition, both Eastern and Oriental; the Roman Catholic tradition; and the Protestant tradition. See our Restorative Justice Study Guide, or go back to the main page of Sources, or the main page of Politics for how to apply this vision.