Action for justice as constitutive of the preaching of the Gospel

Abstract

When the Third Synod of Bishops met in Rome in 1971, it produced the document Justice in the World which specifically stated that "Action on behalf of justice is a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel." This was neither repeating previous Catholic Social Teaching nor excluding any future repercussions. This statement embodied the whole-hearted commitment, on the part of the Catholic Church, to the question of social justice among all nations and moreover it quantified the extent of this commitment. After such a pronouncement, doing justice cannot be seen as an optional value that flows from our own ethical deductions. On the other hand, justice is an indispensable element of our Christian faith. It is a condition in and through which we may experience the mystery of God in our lives and the primary medium by which we may communicate the Gospel to others. This dissertation seeks to investigate this profound link between faith and justice. It also aims at presenting a theological justification for the relationship between the basic content of the Gospel message and the praxis of justice in the realm of our Christian existence. Finally, it also tries to demonstrate how this relationship puts demands on believers whether members of a Third or a First World society. In other words, the call to justice is a universal call that does not relieve anybody from the responsibility of responding to it, if one wants to consider himself as a worthy follower of Jesus Christ. […]