Justice in the Biblical Tradition: A Challenge to the Christian Mission

The author presents the essential principles of biblical justice and applies them to the socio-political contexts of the contemporary world. Biblical justice embraces the notion of renunciation and gratuity. The prophetic mission of Christians calls for radical equality among human persons; equal ownership of the means of production enhances human dignity. In sum, the call for conversion on the personal, social, and structural levels is at the heart of the Christian mission of justice

Victims as moral beacons of humanitarianism in post-conflict societies.

This paper reports on interview data amongst victims of conflict and organised violence. Despite their victimhood, they evince a level of forgivingness, civility and tolerance that constructs in the very acts of atrocity that portend its demise, a form of humanitarianism which enables victims to be moral beacons in post-conflict societies that otherwise are largely devoid of any a moral or sacred canopy. Data cover victims in Sri Lanka, South Africa and Northern Ireland. The theoretical contribution of the paper is to proffer a view that humanitarianism in societies emerging out of conflict is best understood as a social practice constituted by victims' practices for tolerance and civility. This makes humanitarianism pro-social, having the potential to affect social consciousness and social understandings in post-conflict societies and to assist in the remaking of society after conflict

Judah and Benjamin : Evolving a Theology of Peace in Sri Lanka

Cet article présente une herméneutique sri lankaise du récit de Joseph (Gn 37-50) en lien avec une tentative de paix authentique au Sri Lanka. De façon générale, une paix authentique est un phénomène rare en dehors des limites de groupes restreints. Les conflits tendent à s’aggraver, au point d’atteindre le niveau de conflits armés en contexte de pauvreté. Ils s’accompagnent souvent d’économies de guerre dont profitent ultimement les riches. Le Sri Lanka pourrait obtenir une paix durable si une solidarité pouvait être créée parmi les dépossédés des diverses ethnies. Gn 37-50 révèle quatre défis à la paix au Sri Lanka : 1) constituer Benjamin ou créer une solidarité parmi les dépossédés ; 2) souligner l’importance de la fraternité/sororité pour la survie de la nation menacée par les économies politiques existantes qui bénéficient à l’élite nationale et globale ; 3) comprendre la paix comme renonciation ; et 4) comprendre et manifester le pardon.This article presents a Sri Lankan hermeneutic of the Joseph Story (Genesis 37-50) in relation to grassroots peacemaking in Sri Lanka. On a global scale, peacemaking at the grassroots level is a rare phenomenon outside of the confines of small groups. Conflicts are often aggravated and even reach the point of armed struggles due to conditions of dispossession. These eventually lead to war economies which are ultimately beneficial to the rich. Sri Lanka could achieve sustainable peace if solidarity could be created among the dispossessed of the ethnic divide. Genesis 37-50 reveals four challenges to peacemaking in Sri Lanka, namely, (i) constituting Benjamin or creating solidarity among the dispossessed of the ethnic divide, (ii) highlighting the importance of brotherhood/sisterhood for the survival of the nation which is jeopardized by the existing economic policies which are beneficial to the national and global elite, (iii) understanding peace as renunciation, and (iv) understanding and interpreting forgiveness

Covenant and slavery in Jeremiah 34, 8-22 : structure and redactional history of the Masoretic text and of the Septuagint Hebrew Vorlage

Doctorat en théologie -- UCL 199

Victims as moral beacons of humanitarianism in post-conflict societies

Leverhulme Trust. Grant Number: F/00 152/AKPeer reviewedPostprin