Center for the Study of Christianity & Justice

The Center for the Study of Christianity & Justice (Cristianisme i Justícia: CJ) was created by the Jesuits of Catalonia in 1981 for social and theological reflection. Located in Barcelona, it joins together an interdisciplinary team of more than 80 teachers of social sciences and theology with experts and professionals who have direct contact with social realities. To secure the mission of the Center, the Jesuits in 1989 created the Luis Espinal Foundation, a private non-profit organization.

The Center is a member of the Catalan Federation of NGOs for Peace, Human Rights and Development, the Catalan Social Forum, the Catalan Forum of Theology and Liberation, and the Platform of Christian Organizations for Immigrants, and it partners with groups like Oxfam.

The Center was created by the Society of Jesus in Catalonia under the Jesuit Provincial Fr. Ignasi Salvat in 1981, in response to the priority task singled out by Superior General Pedro Arrupe in Jesuit General Congregation 32, the "service of faith and promotion of justice."

Activity

The aim of the center is to contribute to the transformation of realities which generate injustices, through social and theological reflection which critically analyzes and denounces these realities and proposes alternatives which lead toward a more humane and just society and a Church that better serves the poor, in collaboration with other similar organizations. The work of the center is done at three levels:

1. Interdisciplinary study, internal seminars, and working groups.

2. Dissemination through courses, conferences, social networks and especially publication of 631 titles with 50,000 copies over 30 years.

3. Online classroom which was initiated in Spring 2017 with the courses "Change of era, change of course," "Keys to understanding Islam," and "The poor in Christian theology and spirituality."

The Center has made available on YouTube 35 instructional videos on the various topics with which it is involved.

Vision

in continuity with Luís Espinal who was murdered by a Bolivian death squad for his advocacy for human rights, one of the main themes of the center's theology is a vision of Christianity with indignation against injustice, and praise for God who is always on the side of the excluded and oppressed. , a professor at the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid, described this message as follows: "Without struggle against injustice, faith in God is dead, although it be proclaimed everywhere." This basic theme is summarized by the Basque priest and theologian Javier Vitoria in his book on "a kneeling and indignant theology," where he argues that "the struggle for justice should be the central task of apostolic activity, not because of a moral imperative but because injustice discredits our faith in God."

Presenters at the Christianity & Justice have included Javier Melloni, Antoni Comín, James Botey, and Llorenç Puig.

See also

• Jesuit Social Research Institute