There is a term in moral theology called “retributive justice.” We expect retribution of God and of one another: We do this or that good and expect this much back; we do this much bad and expect that much punishment. Our horribly expressed doctrine of purgatory was a perfect example of poorly understood retributive justice: We did so many things wrong, and we got ten years in the fire; we did some more things wrong and got fifteen years in the fire. As if fire were ever going to make things just or repay a debt to anybody.
