<p>In <italic>God, Justice, and Society</italic>, Jonathan Burnside has produced an examination of the significance, structure, substance and implications of Biblical law which is impressive in its scope, concision and depth. He manages to do so in a manner which is both accessible and engaging.</p>
<p><italic>God, Justice, and Society</italic> shows how, in Biblical law, the three named topics were interrelated. Biblical law was not a set of rules in the same way as a modern legislative code. By contrast, the pursuit of Biblical law is to be seen as the search for wisdom, which flows from God. An adjudicator of legal disputes according to the Torah had to journey with God in the process. Biblical law also has a profoundly social aspect: there are specific chapters dealing with humanity's engagement with the environment, with social welfare, and with the issues arising from marriage and divorce. As Burnside says, “Israel reflects the character of God – and thus fulfils her vocation – when the inputs into biblical society (God's acts and revelation in regard to Israel) match up to the outputs (Israel's internal and external acts of justice which together constitute the relational society). This is how God, justice, and society work together in biblical law” (476).</p>
<p>Burnside argues that Biblical law is a topic of continuing significance, having affected modern legal systems and influenced social justice movements. It is helpful to legal education, as it presents law in a different light to the usual method of undergraduate study, since topics such as land law and criminal law are not clearly distinguished in the Old Testament. There is a different perspective in the Bible on the interrelation of law with society, which allows the reader of Biblical law to better reflect on her own legal system.</p>
<p>The subtitle of the work might suggest that the book will consist of an examination and application of legal rules within the Bible itself. However, the scope of the book is much broader than this. The opening chapters of the book deal with the nature and sources of Biblical law, and the concept of justice. The following chapters deal with particular issues in Biblical law, such as environmental law, property law, social welfare, homicide, theft and burglary, marriage and divorce, and sexual offences. These discussions are not restricted to accounts in the Bible. Burnside looks beyond the Biblical text to modern trends in criminal behaviour, marriage rates, and land registration, to name a few. The closing...</p>
