Service Of Justice Research Articles

“The Angry Jew has Gotten His Revenge”

Sholom Schwartzbard killed Simon Petlura in an act of revenge. He admitted his crime and a French jury acquitted him in 1927. For Hannah Arendt, Schwartzbard's actions show that revenge can, in certain circumstances, be in the service of justice. This paper explores Hannah Arendt's distinction between reconciliation and revenge and argues that Hannah Arendt embraces revenge as one way in which politics and justice can happen in the world, but only under certain conditions. First, Arendt only endorses revenge when the crime calling forth vengeance is extraordinary, one that bursts the bounds of traditional legality. Second, the avenger must give himself up for judgment to the legal system, asking a jury to judge whether his extraordinary act was just even though it was illegal. These are strict conditions and will only rarely be met. When they are, revenge can be a profoundly political act in the service of justice, one that can restore a broken political order.

Trastornos de Personalidad en Hombres Maltratadores a la Pareja: Perfil Diferencial entre Agresores en Prisión y Agresores con Suspensión de Condena

In this paper a study of personality disorders most frequently related to 217 male batterers is carried out. All of them form part of a specialized psychological treatment programme for gender violence, which is developed by PSIMAE Institute of Forensic and Legal Psychology, belonging to the Social Service of Justice, Government of Navarra (Spain). All the participants were assessed with the MCMI-II before beginning the treatment programme. Furthermore, a comparison of all the personality variables studied among the subjects referred by the court to the treatment programme (137 males with a suspended sentence) and those who were imprisoned (n = 80) was conducted. According to the results, 79.3% of the sample showed at least one personality disorder. The most prevalent one was the obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (61.3% of cases), followed by the paranoid personality disorder (30%) and the dependent personality disorder (28.1% of cases). Moreover, the results showed the existence of numerous statistically significant differences between groups. In general, imprisoned batterers showed a higher severity in personality variables than those who were referred by the court to the treatment programme. Implications of these results for further research and clinical practice are also commented.

Moving testimonies and the geography of suffering: Perils and fantasies of belonging after Katrina

This essay explores the use of situated testimony in documentary films and videos about belonging, displacement, and return while calling for a ‘spatial turn’ in trauma studies. Through an analysis of selected works about Hurricane Katrina (Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's Trouble the Water, and the activist video New Orleans for Sale! by Brandan Odums, Nik Richard, and the group 2-cent), this paper extrapolates from Cathy Caruth's insights about psychoanalytic ‘belatedness’ and critical human geography's anti-essentializing conceptions of place to expose the concomitant materiality and unassimilability of traumatic space. The essay questions assumptions about home and right of return, ultimately advocating what architect Eyal Weizman has called a new mode of ‘practising space’ in the service of social justice.

More Talk about "Basic Writers": A Category of Rhetorical Value for Teachers

This article recuperates the notion of value, but to new ends: rather than arguing whether or not writing should continue, this case study looks to one institution where it does, asking what value the category basic writer holds for teachers at this site. On the one hand, they confirm the existing scholarship's critiques of the category's strategic limitations. At the same time, they maintain its potential value when leveraged as a tactic to argue for resources for students, attempt to understand students, and articulate a view of teaching as in service of social justice. Given these tensions between problematic and productive uses of the term basic writer, debates about writing's existence would be better served if they shifted away from wholesale critique or defense and instead grappled with more rhetorical questions about value for particular institutions or programs at specific moments in time.

Advocates for environmental justice: the role of the champion in public participation implementation

That segment of the community I would say is just in general pretty disenfranchised. We found that if you want participation you have to go to them. I mean there are days when you just need to go knock on the door. Brownfields developer in a poor urban neighbourhood This article considers the role that champions play as advocates for socioeconomically disadvantaged community member involvement in environmental management decision-making. Six case studies of brownfields redevelopment projects located in poor urban neighbourhoods are examined. Analysis of these case studies reveals how champion behaviour, which has typically been studied only in the context of technological innovation, is enacted in public participation efforts in the service of environmental justice. The study finds that champions who emerge in these settings lead the development and implementation of non-standard public participation process innovations.

Modesty in the Service of Justice: Retrieving Tradition and Reversing the Gaze

ABSTRACTIn recent years, concern for “modesty” has become more prominent in American religious circles. Recent advocates of modest clothing for women voice important concerns, but also perpetuate problematic attitudes toward women, especially poor women and women of color. Thomas Aquinas' description of modesty corrects this error, because it includes modesty of the mind. Contemporary developments in moral theology then enable us to relate both mental and physical modesty to the cardinal virtue of justice, where modesty decenters the self and makes room for other people to flourish. Findings from social psychologists illuminate the dynamics of social power, and clarify specific ways that mental and physical modesty work under the rubric of justice. These findings suggest that men and women may face different challenges in the practice of modesty, and so Christians must attend to all types of modesty in order to adequately address the question of appropriate clothing.

Relationship between Religious Involvement and Psychological Well-Being: A Social Justice Perspective

Although religion has not been a mainline topic of empirical inquiry in the gerontological social work literature, there has been growing recognition in the past two decades of the health protective effects of religious involvement on both physical and psychological well-being. Depression interferes with both individual and social functioning that can lead to persistent problems in healthy human development, social relationships, and empowerment in the service of social justice. Attention to the salubrious effects of religious involvement on the psychological well-being among older U.S. racial and ethnic groups is still in its nascent stage. This article examines the relationship among religious involvement, private prayer, and depression in a low-income clinical sample of 230 older U.S.-born and immigrant Latinos. Higher levels of religious attendance were associated with lower risk of depressive illness after adjusting for selective factors such as physical functioning, stress exposure, and social support. Private prayer was not associated with depression. Although immigrants were more likely to attend worship services, they reported the same rates of depression as their U.S.-born counterparts. The study is an initial step toward disentangling the mental health protective effects of religious involvement on the health and well-being of older Latinos in the United States.

E-justice: Knowledge and Information Technology in the service of Iberoamerican justice in the 21<sup>st</sup> century

Publicació electrònica dels Estudis de Dret i Ciència Polí­tica de la UOC que té per objecte la comunicació i la difusió cientí­fica de recerca, anàlisi i investigació de reptes i qüestions plantejats per les tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació referents al dret i la ciència polí­tica. Els articles publicats ofereixen resultats de recerca original. Així­ mateix, IDP mira d'actuar com a plataforma per a la reflexió i la discussió sobre el contingut i l'abast de canvis provocats per les tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació i, en particular, el fenomen d'internet en els camps del dret, la polí­tica i l'administració pública. La democràcia digital, el tractament de dades personals, la responsabilitat dels proveïdors d'internet, la propietat intel·lectual i la llibertat d'expressió en el web, l'administració electrònica, noves formes de participació polí­tica i la protecció del consumidor a internet són alguns dels temes que es tracten en les contribucions a la revista. Tot això es presenta tant per mitjà de reflexió teòrica com amb la representació d'experiències especí­fiques en aquestes àrees. Cada número d'IDP s'estructura entorn a un tema en particular, juntament amb altres articles relacionats amb les àrees temàtiques principals de la publicació. La revista també conté una secció especí­fica dedicada a les activitats acadèmiques i de recerca dels Estudis de Dret i Ciència Polí­tica de la UOC, i una secció sobre les últimes qüestions legislatives i jurisprudencials.

Cross-national investigation and prosecution of intellectual property crimes: the example of “Operation Buccaneer”

“Operation Buccaneer” was the name given to a law enforcement operation against “DrinkOrDie,” a highly organised but globally dispersed Internet-based software piracy group. The concerted enforcement action, led by the US Customs Service and Department of Justice, extended to several European countries and Australia. This paper contrasts the legal consequences that flowed, with numerous suspects pleading guilty in the United States, some contested prosecutions in the United Kingdom, and a sole Australian suspect facing extradition to the United States to face charges. Operation Buccaneer illustrates the cross-national reach of both Internet-based intellectual property crime and the law enforcement response, as well as some of the complexities that arise in applying jurisdictional concepts such as the “double criminality” requirement for extradition in this evolving prosecutorial landscape.

Embracing Social Activism: Sociology in the Service of Social Justice and Peace

Embracing Social Activism: Sociology in the Service of Social Justice and Peace

A3. World Council of Churches, Central Committee, ““Minute on Certain Economic Measures for Peace in Israel/Palestine,”” Geneva, 22 February 2005.

Following the initiative by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) laying the ground for divestment of stocks in corporations supporting occupation (see docs. D1 and D2 in JPS 134), the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches approved a ““minute”” prepared by its Public Issues Committee that addresses the issue of ““economic actions in the service of justice”” in the Israel/Palestine arena and encouraging its member churches to give ““serious consideration”” to divestment.The World Council of Churches is the broadest and most inclusive ecumenical organization, bringing together more than 340 churches, denominations, and church fellowships in over 100 countries and territories, representing some 400 million Christians. The document is available online at www.wcc-coe.org.

History and Justice: Paradigms of the Prosecution of Nazi Crimes

The confluence of two distinct disciplines—history and justice—in the investigation and prosecution of Nazi war crimes and crimes against humanity has been the subject of controversy since the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal. Particularly controversial, and often poorly understood, is the role of historians in the trials of National Socialist perpetrators of genocide. Addressing this issue in its philosophical, methodological and practical dimensions, this article details the interaction of history and justice in Nazi crimes prosecutions at Nuremberg and in the Ludwigsburg-initiated West-German proceedings. Although the objectives and modi operandi of the two disciplines are dissimilar, a comparative analysis demonstrates that both law and justice benefited from this interaction. Jurists could not do without history and, in the service of justice, historians fashioned and refashioned the historiography of the Holocaust.

Environmental Forensics: A Scientific Service at the Service of Justice and Society

Environmental Forensics: A Scientific Service at the Service of Justice and Society

Literacy and Racial Justice: The Politics of Learning after Brown v. Board of Education

In anticipation of the fiftieth anniversary of the landmark Brown of Education decision, Catherine Prendergast draws on a combination of insights from legal studies literacy studies to interrogate contemporary multicultural literacy initiatives, thus providing a sound historical basis that informs current debates over affirmative action, school vouchers, reparations, high-stakes standardized testing.As a result of Brown and subsequent crucial civil rights court cases, literacy racial justice are firmly enmeshed in the American imaginationso much so that it is difficult to discuss one without referencing the other. Breaking with the accepted wisdom that the Brown decision was an unambiguous victory for the betterment of race relations, Literacy Racial Justice: The Politics of Learning after Brown v. Board of Education finds that the ruling reinforced traditional conceptions of literacy as primarily white property to be controlled disseminated by an empowered majority. Prendergast examines civil rights era Supreme Court rulings immigration cases spanning a century of racial injustice to challenge the myth of assimilation through literacy. Advancing from Ways with Words, Shirley Brice Heath s landmark study of desegregated communities, Prendergast argues that it is a shared understanding of literacy as white property which continues to impact problematic classroom dynamics education practices.To offer a positive model for reimagining literacy instruction that is truly in the service of racial justice, Prendergast presents a naturalistic study of an alternative public secondary school. Outlining new directions priorities for inclusive literacy scholarship in America, Literacy Racial Justice concludes that a literate citizen is one who can engage rather than overlook longstanding legacies of racial strife.

Must the Advance of Science Advance Global Inequality?

One long cited rationale for doing and funding Western modern sciences has been that such research advances social welfare in egalitarian ways. Yet the long service of these sciences to militarism, nationalisms, profit–maximizing, and the desire for social control would seem to provide compelling evidence, at least in the contemporary era, against the happy relation imagined in this rationale. This essay reviews the older utopian and dystopian responses to the title question, and examines their assumptions about the nature of science which no longer are empirically or theoretically justifiable. It then identifies themes in recent empirical and theoretical work which point the way to a more realistic understanding of the kind of philosophy of science necessary to contribute to sciences in the service of social justice. Philosophies of science, like the sciences on which they reflect, always participate in larger social discourses.

Service-Learning as Postmodern Art and Pedagogy

Service-learning is like community service in that it engages students in working with the community and contributes to the development of their civic responsibility. Though learning undoubtedly occurs during community service, in service-learning there is an intentional effort to utilize the experience as a learning resource (Howard, 1993). In some cases service-learning is approached as a social action that stresses the need for collaborative self-transformation of all parties in creating a more just society (Pearson 1999, p. 98). When linked to Harold Pearse's (1992) postmodern reconstructionist view that art is a social process in the service of social justice, this idea suggests that service-learning can be considered a work of art in some cases. According to postmodern and critic Estella Conwill Majozo, Our relevance as human beings can be seen in the meaning of our acts as (1995, p. 88). Through this article, I am challenging art educators and future art educators to understand that our work as artists continues far outside our studios and even our classrooms. As postmodern and critic Suzi Gablik puts it, we need an art [and an art education] that transcends the distanced formality of aesthetics and dares to respond to the cries of the (1991, p. 100). Postmodernism, Artists and Works of Art Today, anyone seriously concerned with art cannot ignore the question of how art functions socially and politically (Risatti, 1998, p. 66). The emphasis placed on the social and political function of postmodern art extends the definition of both art and artists. For example, works of art in a postmodern world do not necessarily always come from those artists considered masters, nor are works of art always housed in museums or galleries. A postmodern view of art does not focus on the place works of art are exhibited, the ways they are created, or the materials with which they are made. It focuses more on the way the art affects, provokes, and challenges both and viewer. Therefore, postmodern art may be considered a transformative vehicle of sorts in that the process of and in its creation and interpretation may serve to transform both the and viewer. Postmodernism challenges many artists to change both how and why they make art. As many university art instructors are discovering, this challenge is met with both anger and fear. Postmodern art often employs such paradox and conflict (Efland, Freedman & Stuhr, 1996; Garoian, 1999). Majozo (1995) warns that the fear many have for this postmodern approach to both making and looking at art is the fear that elitism will be destroyed and that the function of art will once again be recognized. Art in today's postmodern world can no longer be simply described as selfexpression. Gablik (1991) believes that this art embodies aliveness and collaboration, a dimension excluded from the solitary, essentially logocentric discourses of modernity (p. 106). The postmodern practice of collaboration extends beyond the artists themselves and to the viewers who become directly active in the art through participation. Art critic Jeff Kelley (1995) says, participation is not simply a matter of agreeing with the at the outset of a project or of her agreeing with her participants. Rather, is a dialogical process that changes both the participants and the artist (pp. 232-233). Collaborative has become the key to postmodern Dominique Mazeud's performance work entitled The Great Cleansing of the Rio Grande. Since September 1987, Mazeud walks the riverbed of the Sante Fe River on the 17th day of each month. She brings large garbage bags and with the help of friends and local community volunteers, works to collect and remove the trash that litters the river's beaches and shallow areas. Originally, Mazeud's performance art was designed as a political catalyst for environmental awareness. …

The Price of Law: How the Market for Lawyers Distorts the Justice System

This paper begins with the question, Why do lawyers cost so much? The analysis is an investigation of the imperfections in the market for lawyers, imperfections that have been largely overlooked by focus on either the model of perfect competition or the impact of artificial barriers to entry into the provision of legal services. The paper catalogues multiple sources of imperfection: the nature of the incentives and mechanisms at work to determine the level of complexity in the system; the extent to which complexity and uncertainty make legal services into credence goods par exellence; the winner-take-all and tournament nature of the competition among lawyers; the sunk costs of lawyer-client relationships and hence the potential for opportunism and the limited potential for conventional market mechanisms to control opportunism; the incremental nature of legal fees--which structures legal expenditures as a sunk cost auction in which the cost of services can easily and rationally exceed the amount at stake; and three sources of monopoly--the familiar monopoly established by artificial barriers to entry, the natural monopoly arising from the limited supply of individuals in the economy with the cognitive skills necessary to engage effectively in competitive legal reasoning, and the state's monopoly over coercive dispute resolution. The analysis uncovers deeply disturbing implications for justice from the economics of the market for lawyers. The price dynamics of the system operate within the framework of a unified profession/unified legal system that essentially puts individual clients--with justice interests at stake--into a bidding contest with corporate clients with efficiency (more generally, market) interests at stake. Corporations by definition are aggregations of individual wealth and, as a consequence, are able to bid for the resources; they also are a richer feeding ground for the wealth extraction generated by the imperfections/monopoly aspects of the market for lawyers. This is not an ethical critique of lawyers; it is the implication of ordinary economic response to incentives structured by a non-competitive market. The economic dynamics of the market for lawyers operate like a vacuum, drawing the resources of the system into the corporate sphere, in the service (from a public perspective) of efficiency, and away from the individual sphere, in the service of justice as in the relationships between the individual and the state, the market, the family, the community and so on. This stands on its head the lexicographic relationship between efficiency and justice: efficiency is of normative significance only to the extent it promotes individual welfare through just social relations. The implications of the economic analysis in the paper are supported by the empirical evidence we have about the structure of the legal profession and the changes over the past several decades. The profession is roughly divided into two segments--one serving business clients and one serving individual clients. The business segment is populated by lawyers who graduated from elite institutions, who are well-connected and influential in the profession, who charge high fees and earn high incomes, and who are perceived to be in short supply. These lawyers work in large firms or high-end boutiques and are increasingly likely to be specialized. Their work is perceived to be of the highest level of prestige by all members of the profession. The personal segment is populated by lawyers who graduate from lower-tier schools, charge lower fees and often flat fees set in apparently competitive fashion providing largely routine, non-contested legal services such as house closings, uncontested divorces and wills. Their work is perceived, by them and the rest of the profession, as low prestige. Lawyers in this segment tend to work in solo practice or small general practice firms. The supply of lawyers in this segment is perceived to exceed demand, and there is evidence of un/underemployment and falling prices. The allocation of total hours spent by lawyers on legal work is increasingly skewed towards the business segment of the profession, and thus towards the efficiency and away from the individual justice goals of the justice system.

The Price of Law: How the Market for Lawyers Distorts the Justice System

This paper begins with the question, Why do lawyers cost so much? The analysis is an investigation of the imperfections in the market for lawyers, imperfections that have been largely overlooked by focus on either the model of perfect competition or the impact of artificial barriers to entry into the provision of legal services. The paper catalogues multiple sources of imperfection: the nature of the incentives and mechanisms at work to determine the level of complexity in the system; the extent to which complexity and uncertainty make legal services into credence goods par exellence; the winner-take-all and tournament nature of the competition among lawyers; the sunk costs of lawyer-client relationships and hence the potential for opportunism and the limited potential for conventional market mechanisms to control opportunism; the incremental nature of legal fees--which structures legal expenditures as a sunk cost auction in which the cost of services can easily and rationally exceed the amount at stake; and three sources of monopoly--the familiar monopoly established by artificial barriers to entry, the natural monopoly arising from the limited supply of individuals in the economy with the cognitive skills necessary to engage effectively in competitive legal reasoning, and the state's monopoly over coercive dispute resolution. The analysis uncovers deeply disturbing implications for justice from the economics of the market for lawyers. The price dynamics of the system operate within the framework of a unified profession/unified legal system that essentially puts individual clients--with justice interests at stake--into a bidding contest with corporate clients with efficiency (more generally, market) interests at stake. Corporations by definition are aggregations of individual wealth and, as a consequence, are able to bid for the resources; they also are a richer feeding ground for the wealth extraction generated by the imperfections/monopoly aspects of the market for lawyers. This is not an ethical critique of lawyers; it is the implication of ordinary economic response to incentives structured by a non-competitive market. The economic dynamics of the market for lawyers operate like a vacuum, drawing the resources of the system into the corporate sphere, in the service (from a public perspective) of efficiency, and away from the individual sphere, in the service of justice as in the relationships between the individual and the state, the market, the family, the community and so on. This stands on its head the lexicographic relationship between efficiency and justice: efficiency is of normative significance only to the extent it promotes individual welfare through just social relations. The implications of the economic analysis in the paper are supported by the empirical evidence we have about the structure of the legal profession and the changes over the past several decades. The profession is roughly divided into two segments--one serving business clients and one serving individual clients. The business segment is populated by lawyers who graduated from elite institutions, who are well-connected and influential in the profession, who charge high fees and earn high incomes, and who are perceived to be in short supply. These lawyers work in large firms or high-end boutiques and are increasingly likely to be specialized. Their work is perceived to be of the highest level of prestige by all members of the profession. The personal segment is populated by lawyers who graduate from lower-tier schools, charge lower fees and often flat fees set in apparently competitive fashion providing largely routine, non-contested legal services such as house closings, uncontested divorces and wills. Their work is perceived, by them and the rest of the profession, as low prestige. Lawyers in this segment tend to work in solo practice or small general practice firms. The supply of lawyers in this segment is perceived to exceed demand, and there is evidence of un/underemployment and falling prices. The allocation of total hours spent by lawyers on legal work is increasingly skewed towards the business segment of the profession, and thus towards the efficiency and away from the individual justice goals of the justice system.

BRINGING OUT TREASURES THAT ARE OLD AND NEW: Thoughts on Mission Engagement Today from a Latin American URM Perspective

Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches is taking place at the same time as the 50th anniversary of the First Assembly in Amsterdam. No doubt will be a historical milestone and an outstanding ecumenical event - a real jubilee assembly, as well as an ideal opportunity for us to examine relevant topics relating to ecumenical work in mission. Of particular interest to us in the Urban and Rural Mission movement is reflection on key aspects of mission today, the renewal of our commitment to the poor, actualizing our ecumenical perspective on mission and discovering reasons for hope in the future. I should like to share some thoughts on these subjects. 1. challenge of mission today Mission means many things: evangelizing, protecting life, bearing witness, practising solidarity, fighting injustice and struggling for liberation. Each of these aspects is linked to the others (and this list is by no means exhaustive). priorities and emphases that are set depend on the respective context and the historical moment is traversing. God's mission is universal in scope, is ecumenical: The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, and those who live in it (Psalm 24:1). All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.... (Matthew 28:18) church's mission is to continue the redeeming, liberating work of in the and to proclaim the kingdom of God: As the father has sent me, so I send (John 20:21). mission to go into all the world means we have to place ourselves in the whole of reality and not remain confined within the boundaries of the church. Bible does not give us a recipe for fulfilling our mission because our mission is constantly being renewed, but does offer some clues to guide us in our task of being God's faithful co-workers in the work he has already accomplished in the for the building of his kingdom. Let me mention the main ones: Incarnation New Testament tells us of Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet...he became (2 Corinthians 8:9); though he was in the form of ... he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave (Philippians 2:6). This is how refers to the theological meaning of his presence in the world, his humble birth, his option for the lowliest, his acceptance of the cross. For the churches of the 'poor world', this means identifying fully with and being committed to the poor and the victims of injustice and oppression. It means becoming part of the real of the poor, putting down roots in this difficult but fertile soil. This is the price to be paid if our testimony is to be true and credible, the proof that we take the gospel seriously: Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God (Luke 6:20). Co-responsibility Mission is not one-way. It is a task that involves all disciples and all churches. Mission should not be understood as service rendered unilaterally by some to others, but as a process of mutual giving and receiving in which we grow together and are enriched and deepen our faith. Happily, this approach is increasingly accepted by those involved in mission in different contexts. Thus we are learning to give generously of possessions and goods (2 Corinthians 8:2), to share worship, bread and celebration in simplicity of heart (Acts 2:46) and to let ourselves be infected by the simple but profound faith of the humble (Matthew 15:28). Unity and Universality of the Church This double dimension reminds us that the church is one because is united by the one triune and that will not truly be what is called to be until has brought about the unity of all believers. This task is still pending. church is universal because is called to overcome the narrow limits of nation, race and class and turn its eyes to the whole of humanity, living in the service of peace and justice among human beings (Wolfhart Pannenberg). …

The Path of St. Augustine (review)

Reviewed by: The Path of St. Augustine David Vincent Meconi S.J. William Augustus Banner. The Path of St. Augustine. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1996. Pp. xi + 107. $19.95. Banner’s primary concern is to introduce readers to some major themes of Augustine’s moral philosophy. Understanding that morality is grounded in both the operations of the will and of the intellect, Banner uses ch. 2, The Pursuit of Wisdom (11–28), to examine the Cartesian and Kantian world views which stand sharply opposed to Augustine’s. In their rejection of knowledge as the adaequatio of the mind to things, moderns have obliterated both the possibility of encountering the external world in its fullness as well as the unity of the human person. Ch. 3, Being, Truth, and Goodness (31–47), treats God as Being, insofar as God is the immutable ground which makes all human knowing of temporal things possible; God as Truth, insofar as Christ is the inner-teacher shedding light on the otherwise dim human intellect; and God as Goodness, insofar as he is the necessary, changeless standard by which all other goods are measured. According to Banner, therefore, God as immutable being meets the challenges of phenomenalism and skepticism as well as establishes God as the supreme good which makes a life of virtue possible. Ch. 4, The Moral Life (49–59), examines Augustine’s hierarchy of goods and consequent distinction between that which is to be enjoyed and that which should only be used. For Augustine, human happiness consists in proper loving. One must judge accordingly what is worthy of what type of human love: “To bestow a great affection (amor) upon an inferior or less abiding thing or to withhold a great affection from a superior or more abiding thing is to be deceived about being and one’s own will as being. Happiness is open to those who know upon what to bestow affection and from what to withhold affection. The moral life as well as the life of the intellect depends upon the truth. In finding the truth, there is the finding of God as the highest good and the ground of all good things” (52–53). This finding of truth and goodness must include one’s neighbor in all of his particular endeavors. For, Banner concludes, there is nothing in human culture which should lie “beyond the norms of charity and justice or beyond the transforming power or reason in the service of charity and justice” (59). Ch. 5, Justice and Culture (61–83), is thus dedicated to Augustine’s understanding of charity and justice as they embrace the whole of human affairs. This section is much welcomed in that many students of Augustine forget that he was not only a man of letters and one not afraid of this world but, as Bishop, one who spent much of his day as legal arbiter and civic leader. Slavery, just war, and the role of custom in the Roman world are treated here in particular. Ch. 6, Nature and Grace (85–96), portrays Socrates’ and Augustine’s common pursuit: how to achieve the everlasting happiness all desire. If no one wills his own servitude and misery, why do we continually choose to turn away from God? Banner attacks this dilemma through an examination of Augustine’s understanding of freedom and self-knowledge, the remedy which leads to complete dependence upon God. [End Page 336] Banner, emeritus professor of philosophy at Howard University, combines brevity with alacrity in his introduction to Augustine. There are, however, some significant omissions. Missing are any detailed treatments of Augustine’s understanding of the end of morality, the soul’s relation to the body, the relationship between reason and revelation, as well as an appreciation for any development—chronologically or intellectually—of his writings. Perhaps too introductory for some, this text could nonetheless prove helpful for those wishing an accurate overview of Augustine’s moral thought. David Vincent Meconi S.J. Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio Copyright © 1998 The Johns Hopkins University Press