Slavery in Black and White Study Guide Documentary

Walter Brueggemann gives an answer in the book To Act Justly, Love Tenderly, Walk Humbly: An Agenda for Ministers (1997). He defined justice as “to sort out what belongs to whom and to return it to them” (5) . Therefore injustice occurs when others do not get what is rightfully theirs. Brueggemann rightly explained that “through the uneven workings of the historical process, some come to have access to or control of what belongs to others” (5). This understanding of justice challenges those who have been traditionally privileged to give up what they’ve been taught is entitled to them. Those who have to relinquish their privilege have a lot to lose if justice is to become a reality. For him, liberation and salvation “is the work of giving things back” (5). The story of Zacchaeus in Luke provides an example of what it means to do this (19:1-10).