Rethinking Justice in Catholic Social Thought

A reinterpretation of justice in Catholic social thought as a lived experience of communal life

Catholic social thought is a living tradition. Insights into justice that are centuries old still apply, but they need to be reexamined in light of historical developments such as democracy, global markets, feminism, the preferential option for the poor, environmental challenges, and the shift of Christianity’s growth to the Global South.

Rethinking Justice in Catholic Social Thought invites the reader to engage insights on justice from a range of cultural, religious, and intellectual traditions-from African, Hindu, and Buddhist to Scholastic, liberal, Latin American, and Scriptural. The result is an understanding of justice as a lived experience of communal life that entails freedom and dignity for all and equitable access to the common goods of the community.

This volume will help the reader develop a conception of justice that is coherent, comprehensive, faithful to the tradition, responsive to the best contemporary insights, suitable for confronting pressing injustices, and clear enough to be accessible to nonexperts.

Daniel K. Finn is Professor Emeritus of Economics and the Theology at St. John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict. He has written several books, including Consumer Ethics in a Global Economy: How Buying Here Causes Injustice There (GUP 2019).