Well-being and justice are important contemporary themes. How do they relate to shalom? How do they connect with Jesus? Is there a spiritual element included? These are some of the themes we explore in this episode on the 3 absolute shalom requirements, the three things which must be present for shalom to be realized. Maybe our best episode yet! Along the way we bring to the surface the material, physical, and tangible element of the biblical account of shalom, as well as explore some alternative accounts of judgment (and being judgmental!).
After Noel introduces his three “absolute shalom requirements,” (0:55) we backtrack a little bit to talk values and their importance for Noel’s way of engaging theologically and spiritually. Values, for him, are “the treasure of reality,” and preferable to talk of “virtues”. The latter have more of a “street level” understanding and are less susceptible to archaic and gendered connotations.
From there Noel pivots (5:40) to showing that talk of values, while still including some idealism, is also very practical and pragmatic. Indeed, the three shalom requirements can serve as a kind of ruler or measuring stick for the presence of shalom. At the same time, these three are intertwined “facets.” There’s a nice nice Claus Westermann quote (from his chapter in The Meaning of Peace) at 7:20). Finally, the practicality of shalom and its requirements extends beyond human beings to the whole creation. (8:30)
At 9:20 we turn to the first requirement: well-being. This is the most frequent biblical understanding of shalom; it’s overwhelmingly focused on physical and material well-being, a matter of food and water, clothing and shelter, health and safety. The Hebrew word “tov” (10:10) points in this direction, with the idea of goodness, goodness for, things being as they need to be. Again, a particular and practical sense of “goodness,” extending across every aspect and element of creation, one that calls into question “all forms of utility.” (14:00) Another way to get at some of this is to speak of “enough” and “sufficiency” of those things that are necessary for living and living well.
At 15:05 Noel addresses how Jesus’ life, teaching, and example addresses all of these same themes. And yes, while much of what he did could also be a sign to other things, it would be “dualistic” to say that the latter is the central meaning. The “genius” of Jesus (17:20) is the presence of different depths and dimensions in what he did and said. It was all part of Jesus “going about and doing good.” This has ramifications for what Jesus meant by “meekness” and its connection to “dominion” (in the opening chapter of Genesis)–Noel speaks of “dominion-meekness” as a way of connecting our role as humans as for the goodness and fullness of creation. For more, see Noel’s book “Fingerprints of Fire, Footprints of Peace.”
We move toward concluding the first part of our conversation (24:30) Noel reflects a bit on the contemporary import of these biblical reflections. He offers three observations: first, “shalom” as a greeting is not merely a pleasantry but an expression of care and concern; second, shalom well-being can be considered along a continuum, from enough to abundance (he uses Perry Yoder’s book, “Shalom to make the point); and finally, none of this has anything to do with contemporary “prosperity” theology.
After the break, the conversation turns to shalom as “relational justice” (31:00), beginning with things we touched on in Episode 4 (on Shalom as relationship). Justice, for Noel, is living in and working for right relationship. Central, here, is the idea of “putting right” things that are not in our relationship, an idea rooted in the Hebrew word “mishpat”. This includes a nice story from Exodus 18 (33:00). And it (like well-being) extends out from the intra-human world to the wider, inter-creational world (36:15). And throughout, judgment/justice is a concrete process more than an abstract principle or decision. (There’s a nice quote from Walter Wink [The Powers that Be] [41:35]. For more on these, see my recent conversation with Aglaia Barraclough, who works in restorative justice. The end result: shalom activist should see themselves as “angels [messengers] of judgment [restorative justice],” (44:20) which has positive connections with contemporary notions of rights, and fairness, and what is due (46:00).
The third shalom requirement– “spiritual integrity”–is addressed at 47:50. This has two, intertwined dimensions: human integrity and cosmic integration. We have some back-and-forth conversation about the elusive quality of these terms “spiritual” and “integrity”–it is something that we indeed notice and name, but it is difficult to describe and capture. It’s like a “presence” and “persona.” Noel offers some biblical reflections on this at 52:00. We have some back and forth (54:45-56:35) on “harmony” and “character” and “virtue,” all as terms that try to “get at” what “integrity” in general and “spiritual integrity” in particular.
We close (56:40) with some general reflections on the idea of being “clothed” with character traits, a biblical trope of some frequency, and how it connects with our broader shalom theme.
