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Reformed Christians should intuitively understand restorative justice. One of the marks of a faithful church according to our historic confessional documents is church discipline, and as many a theologian in our tradition has emphasized, church discipline is *always* restorative
and *never* punitive or retributive in nature. In layman's terms, church discipline is always intended to restore, not punish.
If we believe that the church is the focal point of where the Holy Spirit breaks in with new creation work, then we must believe that there is something
If we believe that the church is the focal point of where the Holy Spirit breaks in with new creation work, then we must believe that there is something
within the institution of the church that is meant to have a ripple effect on how we see the world around us. Our hearts are meant to be captivated by a liturgy of restoration within the church in order to spill over into a mission of restoration into the world. Liturgy and
mission go hand in hand.
In fact, even if we might hold to only a retributive understanding of the atonement, we must believe that it is a one-time event, not a model to be emulated in our human interactions. This is why the new covenant church entirely replaces punitive
In fact, even if we might hold to only a retributive understanding of the atonement, we must believe that it is a one-time event, not a model to be emulated in our human interactions. This is why the new covenant church entirely replaces punitive
measures of justice that are found in the old covenant - Jesus' work on the cross made a cosmic change!
This is why retributive justice and merely punitive understandings of justice alone are insufficient for the totality of Christian advocacy and support. As citizens of a new
This is why retributive justice and merely punitive understandings of justice alone are insufficient for the totality of Christian advocacy and support. As citizens of a new
kingdom, we are called to help the world reimagine and reshape the way wrongdoing is dealt with. We are meant to point beyond an eye-for-an-eye ethic and show what it might look like for *both* the oppressor and the oppressed to be liberated, restored, and made whole.
This isn't simple or straightforward. There are difficult questions about what a restorative justice approach to horrendous offenders should look like. However, at the same time, Reformed Christians have no reason to have a knee jerk reaction to the idea and practice of
restorative justice. It's in our blood as Reformed Christians, and our tradition believes in cosmic implications of the work of Christ at work in the here and now.
