Mendoza School of Business

I’m a Biblical scholar. It’s clear that Jeff Sessions needs a Bible lesson

Published: June 20, 2018 / Author: Joseph Holt



Business ethics professor Joseph Holt, a former Jesuit priest, wrote a commentary piece for Fortune on Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ use of scripture to defend the Trump administration’s immigration policies. 

In the ancient command, “Justice, justice shall you pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20), the Hebrew word that is translated as “justice” is tzedek. I found when studying biblical languages that most of the time the English translation of the underlying Hebrew or Greek words accurately conveys the meaning of the original text. But there is no word in English that captures the rich and full meaning of tzedek.