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Perspectief 46 prof. dr. Fred van Iersel preference for the poor is repeated in the Agape document : it is the measure of proactive social justice. But how about 'mutual justice' ( iustitia commutativa) in global economic and financial traffic, or the dignity of labour in this context? And how about legal justice ( iustitia legalis ): legislations at national and international levels to promote economic property of the poor, to protect labour participation, freedom and equality? And how about yet an- other biblical theme: distributive justice ( iustitia distributiva ). In sum: where is the biblical paradigm for justice? 58 7 Quality of ethical argumentation: a theological blockade? As a document fitting into a long tradition of Christian social ethics, it is quite remarkable that the Agape document does not present any type of proper ethical argumentation. In- stead it just presents moral claims and postulates. The type of ethics implied in the document is a kind of first order moral language containing moral judgments 59 , condem- nations 60 and appeals 61 . But no moral arguments are given as to how the presented moral insights have been reached – except, of course, for some quotes from the Scripture. The status of moral reasoning – as in the ´cardinal virtue’ of prudence – has always been de- bated within Protestantism since Martin Luther. 62 But as long as moral reasoning does not imply self-justification, but is merely taken up as part of the way God created humans after His image and likeness, no one could seriously oppose moral argumentation along the lines of practical reason as a gift of God to humankind. Not all types of prudence are forms of prudentia carnis ! Moral reasoning is not just an expression of a lack of obedience to God's will. Instead: the just use of the practical reason is implied in creation. In other words: please say something more about the legitimacy of objectives, means, strategy etcetera. Or am I wrong here: is there no classical protestant theological blockade background in the lack of use of practical reason in the Agape document ? 58 The types of Justice mentioned here ( iustitia legalis, iustitia commutativa , and iustitia distributiva ) are a part of classical Christian social ethics, as in Aquinas' Summa Theologiae . Social Justice and the option for the poor have been developed after the Second Vatican Council, or more specifically after the encyclical Populorum Progressio had been published by Pope Paul VI. 59 See the Agape document , nr. 2 60 See the Agape document, nr. 14 61 See the Agape document , nr. 23 62 Baylor, M.G., Action and Person, Conscience and the young Luther , Leiden 1977