Embracing Justice – this year’s Lent book
Our Lent book this year is Isabelle Hamley’s ‘Embracing Justice’. The author is the Theological Adviser to the House of Bishops and was previously Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Justin Welby says of this book that “In a world where justice is too often about power, Isabelle Hamley shows that God’s justice brings transformation, healing and hope for all.”
The publishers blurb says she weaves together biblical texts, diverse voices, contemporary stories, and personal and group meditations to reveal liberating and imaginative ways in which we may grow in discipleship. The issues of justice discussed include climate and economic justice and gender and racial equality and the role that Christians and the Church must play in them. Although some may argue that the world is broken, unequal and violent, the call to reflect God’s own justice and mercy continues.
The Church Times says this book “offers a serious-minded exploration of the different stories of justice in the Bible, with a good deal of attention to the Old Testament — “original justice” in Genesis, “liberation” in Exodus, “community justice” in the laws — before coming to the incarnation, the cross, and the eucharist. “Either justice is swept aside in the cross or justice is not primarily about ‘just deserts’, but needs to be rethought.””
Isabelle Hamley says that “using stories matters”, because “they remind us that justice is always rooted in specific contexts,” and “justice begins with a profound transformation of our imagination.”
Her approach to scripture is not about raiding the Bible for proof-texts or insisting on unanimity, but allowing the Bible’s narratives to reshape our imagination. Alongside this, she introduces contemporary stories that have engaged her as a social activist and former probation officer.
Finally the reviewer says that this book is attractively written and non-technical, “though its handling of ideas make it most suitable for those wanting to stretch their minds around new ways of seeing familiar material.”