It's All About Righteousness: Exploring If A Pursuit Of Righteousness Has Infiltrated Our Lives

Abstract

Everyone wants to be righteous. We compare ourselves to others, seek justification for the things we do, desire a sense of belonging within our group, or flat out declare ourselves to be right. The problem is that while we want to have a righteous identity, by nature we pursue that identity in all the wrong ways. This thesis aims to reveal how a misguided pursuit of righteousness could be motivating our decisions and actions. I will offer a few observations regarding how we pursue forms of active righteousness within the framework of Luther's two kinds of righteousness, which properly teaches a person's relationship to God and others.