St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology (Aug 2024)
Justice and Corruption
Abstract
As the first quarter of the twenty-first century comes to an end, the world continues to witness an increasing and almost unprecedented challenge caused by corruption and the injustices it brings to global society. These challenges are clearly presented both to the global community and the church. The question arises: how best can Christians and the church demonstrate their calling as one which includes speaking against corruption and injustice? Scholarship has engaged fruitfully with this question, on both the themes of justice and corruption. Theologians, both lay and ordained, have identified a need to consider corruption and lack of justice as an issue not only for the secular world but also the church. This article is a biblical, theological, and ethical discourse on justice and corruption, and a proposal for a model for the church to respond to corruption and injustice so as to bring about a just social order and make the gospel relevant today. This article draws on public and systematic theology to present theological-ethical perspectives on justice and corruption. Questions about justice and corruption in light of God’s plan for humanity and the rising ethical anomalies in a global society are two issues which every society has struggled with throughout human history. The article begins with an attempt to define and explore the meaning of and interplay between justice and corruption from a biblical, theological, and ethical perspective. Then it locates the role of the church and, building from a Christian traditional framework and modern church practice, proposes ways in which the church can see itself as an alternative community, one that uses prophetic utterance and creative action to respond to the two distinct but related issues of justice and corruption that impinge upon twenty-first century communities. In drawing on the need for church to set an example by actively caring for justice and the common good, the article calls for a renewed ecclesiological attention to justice and corruption by the church, and encourages it in equipping and sending ministers and or lay people so as to create space for addressing the refusal of justice that allows corruption to flourish. Through its discussion, this article also seeks to help the church to work towards crafting a new life characterized by a flourishing, just, and corruption-free global society.
