Visible Virtues: Judging Justice

by Christine Sunderland

Today is December 7, a “date which will live in infamy” as President Roosevelt stated in his address to Congress and the nation, speaking of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. This catalyst propelled our nation into World War II, hesitant as we were to get involved until then, despite the Holocaust and the rise of the Axis powers. Americans were and are a careful people, not going to war without good reason, but defense of our own shores was a clear call to respond responsibly. We knew it was the right thing to do, so we did it.

And so, we acted upon one of the four Cardinal Virtues, Justice. It is said that all the virtues
derive from and depend upon these four: Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice.

My father, Wm. Carl Thomas, age 28-29, served under General MacArthur in the Southwest Pacific theater on the U.S.S. Phoenix from 1944-5. The Phoenix, a cruiser, escorted convoys carrying guns and men, and had witnessed the Pearl Harbor bombing. He served as chaplain, having recently graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary. He took Christ’s words seriously, to love our neighbor as ourselves, and he cared for his young sailors – boys really – as if they were his own (he is shown here on deck at podium).

We are called to love one another. We are creatures designed by our Creator in his image with
his law written on our hearts – an innate desire for goodness, for Godliness, indeed, for God
himself. We are given free will to choose the good, to love or not. We judge others and
ourselves, in the light of that law, and at the end of the day, or the end of days, we face God’s
judgment. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling, as Paul writes to the Philippians
(2:12), with each choice we make.

This tension – between the should and the should not – between God’s law and our unruly
desires – propels the plotline in Christian stories. We meet injustice with justice, redeeming our
time with stories of hope that all will be righted one day.

As my bishop of blessed memory often said, “Nothing is lost. Everything counts.” I suppose that
is both good and bad news. We look for rewards to our striving, to be fairly treated. And yet,
what happens when that bright light reveals everything we ever thought or did? Will we repent?
Will we be sorry? For judgment hinges on forgiveness and forgiveness hinges on repentance.

Christian fiction considers how to live out the moral law, revealing argument and judging Justice.
Unlike nonfiction which has its place, stories pull readers into the reality of life lived, inviting
them to breathe within that world for a time, to experience the tumult of an informed conscience,
to choose to serve God in perfect freedom. Stories force the reader to face the muddy confusion
of the real world, those grays that hide truth.

In my seventh novel, Angel Mountain (Wipf and Stock, 2020), disorder and tyranny threaten peace. We ask the question, how can we restore our culture and civilization? Through my main characters, the question is given a hearing and the peace of Christ is felt, heard, and preached. For the Judeo-Christian ethos, the foundation of Western Civilization, offers the only hope for the rule of law and the definition of justice. Each character must grapple with judging justice, just as each of us must do. It is only in service of God do we know perfect freedom.

In my eighth novel, The Music of the Mountain, now in submission, the journey continues through the lives of the characters, each grappling right and wrong, life and death, truth and lies, courage and cowardice, peace and war.

What is a just war? What is righteousness? What is virtue? Only God knows, but he is patient
and kind as he shows us. And so we story tellers offer answers through words that flow through
pages, welcoming the reader to live within the virtue of just justice and experience perfect
freedom.

Christian novelists are blessed indeed, for they offer answers to the questions of Pearl Harbor, a
Hawaiian port bombed eighty-four years ago and all those questions love must ask in the
protection of civilization and in the pursuit of perfect freedom.

Christine Sunderland has authored seven award-winning novels: Pilgrimage, set in Italy, Offerings, set in France, Inheritance, set in England, Hana-lani, set in Hawaii, The Magdalene Mystery, set in Rome and Provence (all Oaktara), The Fire Trail (eLectio), set at UC Berkeley, and Angel Mountain (Wipf and Stock), set on Mount Diablo, east of Berkeley. She is currently submitting The Music of the Mountain, about life and death and life again. She is a member of the Anglican Province of the King. Visit Christine at www.ChristineSunderland.com (website and blog), Facebook, and LinkedIn.