Many Christians—given our individualistic society—disengage because they believe justice is merely the protection of individual rights. A fair number of Christians cling to this belief, even when guarding the rights of an individual comes at the expense of another person’s freedoms (think “stand your ground” laws). However, theologians such as Walter Burghardt argue that as covenant people, our definition of justice must differ from mainstream society’s. Burghardt explains that for Israel, justice and sin were both relational, and therefore the church today must realize that “biblical justice
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