Scott Pryor (Campbell University – Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law) has posted Social Justice and Social Righteousness: Virtues, Systems, and Structures on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The terms justice and righteousness occupy contested terrain in contemporary discourse, both within the church and in broader public life. Debates over social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have intensified since 2021, revealing deep divisions over how societies can best enable human flourishing. Yet the biblical and Western theological traditions offer a richer account of these concepts than current secular frameworks allow. Drawing on virtue ethics, the Western theological tradition, and critical realist personalism, this paper argues for reframing the conversation from “social justice” toward a thicker, scripturally grounded vision of “social righteousness.” Through exegesis of the Hebrew Scriptures, this study distinguishes mišpāt (justice)ensuring fairness, remedying wrongs, and punishing the wrongdoer-from tsedaqah (righteousness)-embodying relational fidelity and promoting communal wholeness. Justice is best understood as nested within righteousness, ordered toward flourishing. Building on Christian resources and engaging with other thinkers, this paper integrates classical and biblical virtues, systems analysis, and structural pluralism. A theological vision of social righteousness transcends polarized debates, equipping Christians in society to shape personal character, social systems, and institutional structures in ways that promote the common good, support creational systems and structures, and provide space for the expansion of the Kingdom of God.