Compassionate

JUSTICE

An Interdisciplinary Dialogue with Two Gospel Parables on Law, Crime, and Restorative Justice

CHRISTOPHER D. MARSHALL

COMPASSIONATE JUSTICE

An Interdisciplinary Dialogue with Two Gospel Parables on Law, Crime, and Restorative Justice

Theopolitical Visions 15

Copyright © 2012 Christopher D. Marshall. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Cascade Books

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

isbn 13: 978-1-61097-807-1

Cataloging-in-Publication data:

Marshall, Christopher D.

Compassionate justice: an interdisciplinary dialogue with two gospel parables on law, crime, and restorative justice / Christopher D. Marshall.

xii + 372 p.; 23 cm.—Includes bibliographical references and index(es).

Theopolitical Visions 15

isbn 13: 978-1-61097-807-1

1. Christianity and justice. 2. Jesus Christ—Parables. 3. Restorative justice—Religious aspects—Christianity. I. Series. II. Title.

HV8688.M36 2012

THEOPOLITICAL VISIONS

series editors:

Thomas Heilke

D. Stephen Long

and C. C. Pecknold

Theopolitical Visions seeks to open up new vistas on public life, hosting fresh conversations between theology and political theory. This series assembles writers who wish to revive theopolitical imagination for the sake of our common good.

Theopolitical Visions hopes to re-source modern imaginations with those ancient traditions in which political theorists were often also theologians. Whether it was Jeremiah’s prophetic vision of exiles “seeking the peace of the city,” Plato’s illuminations on piety and the civic virtues in the Republic, St. Paul’s call to “a common life worthy of the Gospel,” St. Augustine’s beatific vision of the City of God, or the gothic heights of medieval political theology, much of Western thought has found it necessary to think theologically about politics, and to think politically about theology. This series is founded in the hope that the renewal of such mutual illumination might make a genuine contribution to the peace of our cities.

For Willard M. Swartley

with respect and gratitude

ό ἀγαπητὸς ἀδελφὸς καὶ πιστὸς διάκονος ἐν κυρίῳ (Eph 6:21)

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART 1: Restoration and the Victim (Luke 10:25–37)

1 A “Magnificent Little Story” and the Task of Public Ethics

2 A Parable of Law, Crime, and Justice

3 Loving Life and Doing the Law

4 Victimization and the Law of Neglect

5 The Samaritan and the Rule of Compassion

6 Good Samaritans, Bad Samaritans, and Modern Legal Theory

PART 2: Restoration and the Offender (Luke 15:11–32)

7 Offending, Restoration, and the Law-Abiding Community

8 Offending as Relational Rupture

9 A Better Justice

PART 3: Just Compassion...