Image for What Is Justice: </br> Thinking with Plato and the Bible

A concern for justice seems deeply rooted within us, and yet struggles over the meaning of justice persist, often with very high stakes. We constantly disagree about what is just or find ourselves in situations where the forces of injustice seem insurmountable. In this seminar, we will throw our understandings of justice into question with the help of some texts from ancient Jerusalem and Athens. By grappling with select stories from the Torah and the first book of Plato’s Republic, we will gain insight into why justice so often seems elusive, both in its definition and in its practice, and develop a sharper clarity about what it means to be just.