Abstract
In my book Beyond Retribution: A New Testament Vision for Justice, Crime, and Punishment (Eerdmans, 2001), I draw attention to the prominent role that forgiveness plays in the teaching of Jesus, and connect it to the practice of restorative justice as a contemporary institutional application. In this essay, I focus on Paul’s great theology of reconciliation. Like forgiveness, it too has a clear socio-political dimension, and one that has similarly been eclipsed by the doctrinal tradition’s tendency to individualize and spiritualize its meaning. I look at Paul as exemplary peacemaker, and make four observations. Firstly, for Paul, reconciliation is discovered, not manufactured, secondly, it is a divine initiative, thirdly it is a response to faith and finally it is a commitment to peacemaking.
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