For the Common Good: Biblical Social Justice and the Law of the Good Samaritan Cover Image

PENTRU BINELUI COMUN: JUSTIȚIA SOCIALĂ BIBLICĂ ȘI LEGEA BUNULUI SAMARITEAN
For the Common Good: Biblical Social Justice and the Law of the Good Samaritan

Author(s): Nicolae Crețu
Subject(s): Biblical studies, Canon Law / Church Law, Sociology of Religion
Published by: Editions IARSIC
Keywords: common good; social justice; biblical social justice; good samaritan law; public space;

Summary/Abstract: The modern society, destabilized by the existing inequalities, must resort to finding as quickly as possible public applicative directions for restoring the social balance of the common good in order to develop the efficient public sphere. This study aims to obtain, through a theological research, certain ways that can be considered as solutions for the common good in the public space. In the development of the argument we will go in two directions, first social and then legal. In the first part, we will present the public concept of social justice, exposing its origins in the first phase, and then introduce the concept of biblical social justice into this framework. The father or originator of the concept of social justice is considered to be Luigi Taparelli, philosopher and Jesuit priest, who in the debates about the Risorgiment imposed this system of social thought. In the second part of our study, we dealt with how the Parable of the Good Samaritan imposed itself as a working method in the legal system, defining it as a necessity of the public space. With the first reference, in 1825 in the process called Mills vs. Wyman from the city of Massachusets in the United States of America the concept or the duty to the neighbor in the example continued to inspire and develop the criminal codes of modern societies, imposing itself as one of the solutions in order to establish the common good. In the final part of the study, we will present the christian vision of the common good, making the christian not only an actor of the public space, but also a creator of the common good for the public sphere.

  • Issue Year: 10/2022
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 399-413
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Romanian