The Justice Project

The Book
The prophet Amos declared, “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5.24). The notes to The New Oxford Annotated Bible state that this verse “expresses the heart of Amos’ preaching”, but in a very real sense those words express the heart of all prophecy, including Jesus’ own preaching. He so closely identified with the oppressed and the marginalized that he said, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25.40).

The Justice Project is Baker Books’ answer to this prophetic call. The book is a collection of essays edited by Brian McLaren et al. that brings together in one volume a variety of Christian speakers, authors and activists to ruminate on the subject of justice. As might be expected, the foreword was written by Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourner’s. The Justice Project was published in 2009 under the Emersion imprint.

Quote
“Because God is a God of justice, in any situation in which power is misused and the powerful take advantage of the weak, God takes the side of the weak” (Brian McLaren, page 24).

The Good
The good thing is that books with a focus on social justice are being written, it seems, with greater frequency. What’s even better is that the mainstream church is starting to notice. When even staunchly “conservative” Evangelicals are starting to read Sojourner’s and the stars of Christian radio are launching their own nonprofits (see Jars of Clay’s Blood: Water Mission or Third Day’s Come Together Fund), you know that change is in the air.

As a member of a congregation that belongs to American Baptist Churches USA (an organization with its own rich history of social justice activism), I instantly recognized the name Campolo. Tony didn’t actually contribute an article – just a promotional blurb – but I read the essays by his wife, Peggy and son, Bart with great interest. Bart’s piece is one that sticks with me, since it’s about a topic that I don’t normally think of as having spiritual implications: campaign finance reform. His point – concisely made, I might add – was that if the poor are to ever have a real voice in American politics, we need to cap the amount of money that can be spent on political campaigns. This will ensure that a wealthy individual does not necessarily have the advantage when running for office. The idea is simple, but effective.

The Bad
It’s tough to review a book that doesn’t speak with a single, unified voice, and a collection of essays, by its very nature, cannot do so. Each chapter, each voice, should be judged on its own merits, and an analysis of each and every essay in The Justice Project is well beyond the scope of this review. However, if there is one criticism that can be leveled at a number of the pieces it is this: that they give their complaint without offering the reader a compelling solution. A word of advice: if you’ve been granted 10 pages in a book with a potentially large audience, don’t waste 9 of those pages telling me how deeply you feel the weight of oppression against your favorite minority. Instead, outline the problem on page one and then spend the rest of your time offering me an intelligent solution (and don’t assume that I will agree with you – convince me). I realize that most social justice issues do not have instant answers, but at least take a stab at it. It’s why you have the letters “MDiv” or “PhD” after your name, and I don’t.

The other compliant I have is that many of the authors in the book were unknown to me. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but instead of reading about how Shauna Niequist likes to think about social justice activism while she’s doing the laundry, it would have been nice to hear from someone who actually has a presence on the national/international stage. What does Rick Warren think should be done about HIV/AIDS? Perhaps part of the point of the book was to give a voice to people who wouldn’t normally have access to this kind of a platform. Still, Warren has the ability to influence public opinion – Alise Barrymore (page 210) does not. Do we want to actually shift the prevailing paradigm, or just stand around talking to ourselves about our commitments to “Womanist” theology?

The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that The Justice Project does serve a purpose. Books like this one help to raise awareness about social justice in both the Church and the culture-at-large. The average Evangelical Christian reader will no doubt disagree with a number of the ideas promoted in the book (including Peggy Campolo’s assertion that the Church should embrace GLBT couples). Nevertheless, I found the book’s overall concept refreshing, and I think it will at the very least help Christians attain a greater degree of awareness and engagement with social justice in the 21st Century.