Rollin G. Grams Issue: Vol.1 No.2 April 2024 Article 1 pp.4-29

This essay proceeds from the conviction that public theology, to be properly theological, needs an exegetical grounding in Scripture rather than starting from general (public) values that are easily manipulated in the hands of political activists. It examines the meaning of justice and righteousness in Old Testament texts, especially Isaiah and Job 28.11-17, in light of their Ancient Near Eastern context. The ANE texts advocate a particular rather than generic value understanding of active justice and righteousness, ones that overlap with but are not the same as the OT understanding. These are even more dierent from liberation or Critical Theory notions of justice and equity. Biblical justice is impartial, neither partial to the poor nor weighted in favour of some group. Yet it is an active justice, seeking out and helping the needy to receive impartial justice. In light of the discussion of the OT in its ANE context, a number of conclusions are drawn at the end of this essay that distinguish Biblical justice and righteousness from the vague values often assumed in public theology.