The Justice Project [Hardcover]

Brian McLaren (Author), Elisa Padilla (Author), Ashley Bunting Seeber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

Justice and the call for change are in the air. Whether it's extreme poverty, human rights, racism, or the Middle East, news outlets bombard us with stories about the need for justice in the world. But how are Christians to respond to these stories and the conditions to which they refer?

Here's help. Editors Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla, and Ashley Bunting Seeber have amassed a collection of over 30 brief chapters by some of the most penetrating thinkers in the justice conversation, including René Padilla, Peggy Campolo, Will and Lisa Samson, Sylvia Keesmaat, Bart Campolo, Lynne Hybels, Tony Jones, and Richard Twiss. Divided into sections, "God of Justice," "Book of Justice," "Justice in the USA," "Just World," and "Just Church," The Justice Project invites readers to deepen their understanding of the pressures our world faces and to take up the challenge of alleviating them. Never has the world been in greater need of Christians who "do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God." This resource will help them do just that.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

This collection of challenging and inspiring essays contains more than thirty brief chapters by some of the most penetrating thinkers in the justice conversation, including:
• René Padilla
• Peggy Campolo
• Will and Lisa Samson
• Sylvia Keesmaat
• Bart Campolo
• Lynne Hybels
• Tony Jones
• Richard Twiss
• and many more
If you're concerned about the state of our world and want to be part of the solution to the pressing problems we face, The Justice Project is your catalyst for positive change.

From the Back Cover

Never has the world been in greater need of Christians who "do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God."

Justice and the call for change are in the air. Whether it's extreme poverty, human rights, racism, or the Middle East, news outlets bombard us with stories about the need for justice in the world. How are Christians to respond? The Justice Project invites you to deepen your understanding of the pressures our world faces and to take up the challenge of alleviating them.


"Put together by exemplary leaders, this will be a handbook for any who are committed to working for biblically based social justice. It's comprehensive and brilliantly well written."--Tony Campolo

"Absolutely dazzling. Here is a choir for social justice that makes the prophets smile. The editors have conducted a symphony of voices, harmonizing without homogenizing. You may find some voices here a little high pitched or unfamiliar, but together they are magical. These authors are not just the 'usual suspects' of the religious left, but signs of a movement that is coloring outside the lines of partisan politics and stale debates in a post-religious right world. They insist that our faith must be as daring and sassy, as gentle and fascinating, as our lover, Jesus."--Shane Claiborne

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Baker Books; 1 edition (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801013283
• ISBN-13: 978-0801013287
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 6.3 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #815,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars New Offering from The Emergent Village November 5, 2009

By MasterAP

Format:Hardcover

The Justice Project is the latest offering from the Emergent group.

It is a book of essays that all deal with biblical justice and our world today.

With contributers like Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Joseph Myers, and Doug Pagitt you know you'll find something that connects with you.

Broken down to 5 sections, you'll read essays that deal with:

The God of Justice - how we see God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit work out justice.
The Book of Justice - the justice we find in Scripture
Justice in the U.S.A. - the history of justice (native Americans), up to the "values voters"
A Just World - moving outside our national borders to bring justice to the world and within our "burbs"
A Just Church - how we can epitomize justice.

Too many people have complained that religion is America has become too politicized with the Religious Right's involvement and obvious collapse, and now with a seemingly growing number of Liberal Christians rising behind the star power of President Obama.

This book removes all areas of complaint and brings out what God has called His people to do with regards to justice in our world.

Let's stop the name calling and get to work..

This book was provided for review by BakerBooks Publishing.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommend this Book December 14, 2009

By Earl G. Barnett

Format:Hardcover

I highly recommend The Justice Project to anyone concerned with faith's intersection with the public sphere. With that said, I do not think that any review I can write will do this book justice (pun intended). Nevertheless, I will try to encapsulate this excellent book and my thoughts on it.

Edited by Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla, and Ashley Bunting Seeber, The Justice Project, is a compilation of essays on the topic of justice (big surprise, I know). The essays are collected according to their topics: God, Scriptures, the USA, the World, the Church, and Final Conclusions. Each of the essays are written at around six pages, making them each quick and easily digestible. Moreover, as we have come to expect from Emerging Church books, these essays have been constructed for the average reader. There is a no overblown vocabulary full of political and theological jargon. The complexity of these essays comes in their application, rather than in their reading. Lastly, this volume has intentionally reached across ethnic, geographical, and especially across liberal/ conservative lines. Although this book has articles by the Emergent mainstays Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and Samir Selmanovic, The Justice Project also includes articles from multiple members of Willow Creek Community Church (Including Lyne Hybels). The Justice Project laudably models the type of egalitarian community it hopes to create.

A specific Gem of an essay in this book is "My Name is Legion for We Are Many: Exorcism as Racial Justice" by Anthony Smith. The essay fascinating argues that "Mista Charley," the structural racism that exists via apathy in America, needs to be exorcized as a "national demon." Here is a brief quotation, playing on the Legion passage from Mark 5:

"We stand in an imperial graveyard. Our body politic has habits that render it nearly impossible to get at the deep terrain of racial privilege, dominance, and vast economic iniquities that persist along racial lines. We scream in privileged agony, cut ourselves off from the painful history of others, and are unable to be chained to a profound practice of repentance. What would it look like to be clothed and in our right minds again?... We wouldn't attribute our success solely to our "work ethic" and "rugged individualism," but would see the racial dynamics that play into the success of some and the struggle of others" (Smith, 106).

This book has both challenged my complicity in theologies and structures of injustice, while making me believe that change is possible. This is the kind of book that I will read over and over again.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant. A call to action. November 24, 2009

By J. Donaghy

Format:Hardcover

The Justice Project is a collection of essays devoted to understanding social justice issues. There are over thirty chapters dealing with issues as diverse as urban poverty, justice for Native Peoples in the U.S., reading the Bible justly, and racial justice among many others.
I appreciate the conversational rather than adversarial tone used in these essays. You will hear from liberals, and conservatives, you will hear from evangelical, mainline, and emerging believers, you will hear from seasoned voices whose names we all recognize and you will hear from the next generation of Christian thinkers that will amaze you with their passion and intellect.