‘Good news about injustice’
Gary A. Haugen
Inter-university Press, 1999, New York
If you are interested by matters justice the Gary Haugen’s book is worth reading. Even though it may appear to be addressed to the North American audience, it speaks to any person who struggles with the insidious face of injustice so clearly enveloping more recently in our country and at large our world.
Written in an easy, readable style, it is a powerful rendition not only of the biblical basis for involvement in eradicating all forms of injustices but it also offers practical steps that anyone, asking the ‘’so where do we go from here” questions, can take.
Gary Haugen’s experience in the arena of justice sprawls all the way from his involvement with the South African National Initiative for Reconciliation in South Africa’s dark years. It is also spiced with hands on experience with the US Department of justice as a trial lawyer and ends with his current position as the president of the International Justice Mission, giving him the necessary credibility to sustain a case for involvement. His is not test book armchair advice. He has been there, seen it, felt the pain and done something about it. You have to be hard hearted not to shed a tear upon reading his experiences in Rwanda, where he served as the director of the United Nations genocide investigation. There is no doubt that his passion for justice has been grown by his having regularly come face to face with the true evil of injustice. May his tribe increase!
One of the books strengths is in its application of biblical truths in a sobering manner. Why does God allow injustice? Does God really care? Is there hope? What then is a Christian to do? All these and other questions that plague many a believer are given a biblical response that leaves one with only one question. What next, now that I know? And even this question the book bravely answers. One may argue as to the practicality of some of the “how to” suggestions made, but there is no question that the book leaves one with more than enough to chew.
Gary Haugen’s treatment of the role of believers in fighting injustice is classic. Arguing from scripture, the book makes the case that in the same way that God uses you and me to evangelize the world, God expects to use us to obtain a world in which justice reigns. The existence of unjust structures is therefore an indictment on the part of believers who have failed to use resources at hand to fight a cause that is close to the heart of God. In the same way our hearts are moved by the people yet to be reached with the good news of salvation, our hearts must be stirred up by those unreached by the good news about (in) justice. Soon one discovers that the title of the book is not a play on words, there is good news about injustice: God is concerned about injustice and wants to use us to eradicate it.
