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Most of us talk about injustice all the time. Far fewer of us stop to ask what justice actually is. John Adams has spent years with that question, first reading the great books in hotel rooms between deals, then translating them into games and puzzles as a youth pastor, and now in his novel, The Third Phase.
The book grew out of a conversation with his daughters on their annual trip to New York. They were frustrated with the political divisiveness around them, so John challenged them to describe the world as it ought to be. Their answer became the blueprint for a utopian thriller that follows a multi-ethnic team of characters across the globe as they confront real injustice, while carrying the wisdom of Plato, Augustine, and Aquinas into every situation.
Key Themes
• You can’t name injustice without a standard for justice. John walks through how Socrates pressed people beyond examples to actual definitions, and why the argument that justice is simply whatever the strong decide may describe how the world often works, but not how it ought to work.
• Morals that are purely subjective stop being morals. John’s main character, Carlos, faces this head-on when a cause he’s championed commits violence he can’t defend. As he writes in his journal, if everyone makes up their own rules, there are no rules.
• Real villains usually think they’re the good guys. John deliberately avoided cardboard antagonists. Wilk adds that many people who do harm aren’t evil, just convinced the ends justify the means, which is a useful lens for how we view people on the other side of almost any divide.
• What we take in shapes what we put out. Wilk and John talk about algorithms built to keep us scared and outraged, and the case for spending a little less time on soundbites and more time with the wisest voices across history.
• Writing a better world shows you the gap. While researching dystopias from Orwell to Huxley, John realized that imagining utopia forced him to see how far we really are from it.
Takeaways
• Before arguing about whether something is unjust, ask what you mean by justice. Shared definitions are where real conversation starts.
• Hope and honesty can sit together. As John’s daughter Amanda put it after finishing the book, she felt hope and despair at the same time, and that tension is worth holding.
• Audit your inputs. If your feed is mostly outrage, your view of the world will be too.
• A free companion guide, built for book clubs and deeper study, is available at thethirdphasenovel.com. John also offers live Q&A sessions with book clubs.
About John C. Adams
John Adams has spent more than 30 years in investment banking, including time with Morgan Stanley and Lazard and as a founding partner of CMD Global Partners. His work has taken him across six continents, with deep experience in China, and he splits his year between the United States and Europe. A former youth pastor and lifelong student of philosophy and theology, John is the father of five grown children. The Third Phase is his novel with Skyhorse Publishing.
Learn more about and connect with John:
Website: https://thethirdphasenovel.com
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